Dramatize Me
by Anniebananie1252
Summary: Juliette Ferrars has been kicked out of her school for a rumour that happened to be just that. A rumour. She never actually did that thing that everyone thought/hoped she did, but she was punished anyways, sent off to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere. You'd think that would be bad enough right? "Wrong!" Life seems to scream at her everyday.
1. Preface

I've been stuck here for 264 days. I sit in the same desks, see the same people, even breath in the same assortment of smells, almost every single day of the week. At first it was exciting. All of the good stories always happen in High school. Then it got bearable, since suddenly my verity of stories started to expand. Suddenly it was brutal. I didn't even have time to read about other people's troubles because a down pour of my own decided to see if I would melt. And then it became unsurvivable. I had no choice but to try and escape the monstrosity that I have the misfortune of calling my life, so I decided it was time to write my own novel.

It was so difficult at first. Trying to think of a storyline that everyone would love, and feel happy about. But after a while I'd decided to screw all of those optimists, ( not actually screw them, physically. Screw them as in, not care about them anymore.) And so I decided instead, I would write a depressing novel about a girl, who was kicked out of her wonderfully pathetic public school, sent to an overly protected boarding school, then faced the terrible task of breaking up with a really hot boyfriend. Hello world. My name is Juliette Ferrars, and welcome to the eyesore I like to refer to, as my life.


	2. Black and Red

" Did you or did you not inflict physical pain upon Conner Bell?"

Now, I know, this is supposed to be one those questions with only two answers, and I guess, theoretically, it is. Yes. I did inflict pain upon Conner Bell, but my reasoning for doing so, in my opinion at least, totally gave me the right to do it. Now if someone grabbed your hand from behind, pulled you towards them, then forcefully tried to kiss you, would you _not_ try to punch them in the face?

" I did, but it was his own fault! Why am I being punished for something that I should be going to therapy for?"

I knew the reason perfectly well. I'd heard it a billion times. Conner Bell was currently lying in a hospital bed, with a broken nose, a black eye and some severely injured uh… Guy part.

" We've already told you Miss Ferrars. Mr. Bell has told us that he has done nothing of what you a referring to."

I'll fast forward the story now because I really don't think you want to hear the rest of that scene. It involved some very colourful language and eventually me being expelled from school. Part of the reason that nobody believed me about how I was almost raped, was because I didn't seem traumatized enough. The reason for this, was because I'd completely blanked out. I don't remember anything after the disgusting feeling of gross wet lips pressing against my own. All I know is that I was _pissed_.

Currently I am sitting on a bus, that is taking me to the middle of nowhere. I swear, as we enter my new school, that's what it's gonna say.

_'Middle Of Nowhere Secondary School' _

According to their website, there are exactly 500 students from ages thirteen through seventeen. Everyone lives on campus, in a small dorm room with two other roommates. The sheet that they e-mailed me said that my two cellmates are named Sonya and Sarah something. I don't remember they're last name. All I know is that they have the same one. Most likely they're sisters, but there is that chance that they just coincidentally have the same last name.

As I arrive in my new prison, I am quickly taken to my room. My belongings are said to arrive while I am at dinner. Students are all in their classes at the moment, so I won't be seeing Sarah or Sonya until then, but looking at the room, they don't seem to be very interesting… The walls are bare, and the beds are made. Both their bed sheets are a pale shade of pink, with barely noticeable white pock-a-dots. I can't exactly judge, considering I haven't really brought any additions to the room either. My bed sheets don't even have a design on them. They're just a light shade of blue. My clothes don't really scream excitement either, they mostly consist of blacks and greys. Not that it matters here. We're all given a uniform. The school colours are black and red, so the uniforms are- this one's a shocker- black and red. They're pretty simple. A plaid skirt, with a white shirt and a black vest. You can choose variations, as long as there all from the catalogue. ( Yes, this school has it's own clothing catalogue)

The name, as it turns out, isn't_ 'Middle Of Nowhere Secondary School'_. It's actually called, _'Anderson Prep School for specialized youth'._ It's for kids who excel at a specific subject. When I was kicked out of my school, my parents saw me as a disgrace, so they decided to use my talent of words against me to send me here. I am here because, although I suck at every single other subject on this planet, ( P.E. included) I am an exceptionally good English student. I can write essays, stories even poems. I'm good at reading things out loud, and correcting other people's work without loosing the personality of the person's writing. That's why my parents could afford to send me so far away from home. Because I am so good, that the school is actually paying for _everything_.

I hear a knock at the door. Why the hell is someone knocking on _my _door? I open the door. Two identical pairs of green eyes stare back at me.

" Hi Juliette." They say in unison.

Twins. _Fricking twins._

" Uh… Hi. You guys are Sonya and Sarah I take it?"

They nod.

" Cool…" I say. They step into the room and start to explain stuff to me, like the rules of the bathroom, and what time food is served, and how I should never be late to classes. About half way through I begin to wonder if I should have been taking notes.

" And that's it," Sarah concludes. Or was that Sonya? I don't know. This might take me a while.

After that they take me to dinner in the dining hall. We sit at a table with two other guys named Kenji and Adam. Kenji is hilarious, laughing and making jokes at everyone's expense. Adam didn't really say much, he just stared at me a lot. Usually I would have felt creeped out if a guy was staring at me for that long, But Adam is _hot. _Like, _really_ _hot_. His eyes are a deep shade of blue, and his hair a dark chocolate brown.

" So what are your special talents?" I ask when everyone's finished their meals.

Kenji is the first to speak, which makes sense after he tells me why he's here.

" I'm here on a scholarship for performing arts. I'm an actor."

Sarah and Sonya, as it turns out, are studying medicine. They're both aspiring doctors. Adam is here on a football scholarship, studying criminology.

" wow," I say, " I didn't know they had that in High school."

" Most don't, but you know," He grins, " this one sort of has everything.

I smile back at him, surprised to see that it feels genuine.

**Hey! So I have't seen too many of these for Shatter Me, so I hope I'm not boring anyone with the same ideas as everyone else. I would like to apologize before hand for Juliette being so out of character. I'm writing this more from an Ignite Me perspective than a Shatter Me or Unravel Me one. I've tried to incorporate everyones ****gift into this somehow. You guys will meet Warner soon, Unless ****nobody wants me to continue... Please review! I love hearing from you guys, and I really would like to now if you'd like me to continue with this story, or if I should just abandon it. thank you guys solo much for reading!**


	3. First Block

" Juliette, wake up."

I slowly open my eyes, and instantly, that disorienting feeling you get when you wake up somewhere you're not used to, takes over my mind. One of the twins, I'm not sure which, is shaking my shoulders to try and rouse me from my deep dreamless sleep.

" You have to get up now, or you'll miss breakfast." Her voice is so soft, calming. It's one of those voices that you wouldn't mind listening to for hours. If we were in a crowded room, she, and her sister for that matter, would be _those_ people, who everyone stops their conversations for simply to listen to them speak.

" What time is that again?" I ask groggily, still half in a sleep like trans.

" It starts at 6:30 and ends at 8:15, exactly fifteen minutes before first classes start."

I try and think of what my first class of the day is. The school is set up in a schedule where you alternate between doing four subjects on monday, then your main subjects on tuesday, then your other four subjects on wednesday, followed by your main subject again on thursday. Then finally there's friday where you have the freedom to go to whichever classes you think you need more time in. You have the flexibility of coming in and leaving class whenever you want since classes aren't exactly in session. You just sort of show up, do what you need to do, then leave. In all honesty, this is the one thing about the school that I really liked.

" Hey," I say, strategically avoiding having to use her name, " would you happen to know my first class of the day?"

She smiles at me. " We all have the same first block today. It's Physical Training."

I groan. P.E. has never been my favourite subject. Actually, it's my worst subject.

" I'll meet you in the dining hall," she says. Just before leaving she looks back at me and grins, " Oh, I'm Sonya by the way." She laughs when she sees me blush.

" It's okay, Kenji's known us for six months now, and he can still barely tell us apart."

I laugh it off, but I still feel a bit guilty for apparently making it so obvious.

When Sonya finally exits the room, I quickly change into my uniform. Today I choose to where the original ensemble, of the skirt, shirt and vest. I pack my bag according to my schedule:

First block: Physical Training

Second Block: Science

Third Block: Intro Art

Fourth Block: Math 10

Sonya and Sarah are sitting at the same table as yesterday, accompanied by the same guys, only there are two additions. They introduce themselves as Winston, a guy who is sipping a giant mug of coffee and is definitely not a morning person, and Brendan, a guy with a slight british accent, and is almost as sweet as Sonya and Sarah.

I'm surprised at how easily these people have accepted me into their group, I just wish I could do the same. People, in my opinion, always betray you in the end. I have never really been that accepted into the society of high school. I was always just _that_ girl. The one nobody talked to, and never invited to birthdays. I was the one who knew most answers in classes, but not because I was smart. It was simply because no one bothered to distract me from the teachers words. The few times people did talk to me were either for help with an assignment, or to shout an insult at me. I wasn't made fun of for any other reason than because I could take it. I could handle the insults, and I could handle the solitary life style. Or so I'd thought. I guess people should have seen it coming. I guess _I_ should have seen it coming. Not doing anything but absorbing it, as people pelted you with negativity was probably not a good idea, because like anything else, I eventually cracked. And that's how I ended up here.

I look at the eyes of these people who are trying so hard to make me feel included, to make me feel like I belong. I came to part in my life where I have to make a decision. Should I finally let people into my life, or will I continue to be fractured by insults, waiting to finally shatter into a million pieces.

A pair a blue eyes meets my gaze across the table. They're dark and intimidating and mesmerizing and oh so wonderfully captivating. Maybe letting everyone in is too much for now, but one person. One friend. A smile spreads it self on my face, and I see it mirroring on his.

" Come on guys, let's go!" Kenji says interrupting my thoughts.

" wait, do we all have P.E. first block?" I ask, in disbelief.

" Yep." Sarah says happily. " That's how we all met."

"I guess it was a happy coincidence." Sonya adds.

They're wearing different outfits today,_ thank god, _so I can actually tell them apart. That revelation quickly changes due to the fact that everyones gym strip is identical. Well, not exactly _Identical,_ but pretty damn close. We all have to wear a red _Anderson Prep_ T-shirt, but for pants we have the options of, sweats, shorts, or yoga pants. Both Sonya and Sarah are wearing shorts, while I chose the yoga pants today. We were given all three upon arrival, but you don't have to wear _all_ of them if you don't want to.

As I step out of the change room and onto the field, I see that everyone is in little groups.

" You have to choose a sport." One of the twins explains to me. " Me and Sonya are both doing cheer, but you can choose whichever sport you'd like."

I nod, looking around as everyone talks among themselves while doing they're stretches or warm-ups.

" Your choices" Sonya adds, "are cheer, football, soccer, basketball, fencing, volley ball, swimming, track, cross country, gymnastics or self defence. You can choose to do rotations for two weeks as well if you want. Basically you switch between each sport, then see which one you want to do for the rest of the year."

At this point in time, Kenji comes over to us and joins in on informing me of this weird curriculum.

" You have the right to change your sport every year, but most people tend to stick to the same one for all three years here."

That's another thing about this school. It starts in grade ten instead of grade eight like most high schools. You can then choose to either stay here and go to Anderson University and continue whatever work you were doing before, or you can choose to leave and go to any other University in the world. Anderson Prep basically get's you an automatic scholarship to anywhere, As long as you don't flunk out before graduating.

" What sport do you do?" I ask Kenji.

" Track. I'm mostly a sprinter, but I can jump okay too." He says. " It's actually pretty impressive how good I am, considering my hight and all."

I laugh. I don't even remember the last time someone my own age made me laugh before coming to this school. Now happens so often, I don't notice it until later.

Suddenly Adam comes jogging up to us, and is soon caught up in our conversation.

" So, do you know what you're gonna do yet?" He asks me.

" Uh, I think I'm gonna so the rotation thing, but I'm leaning towards track or self defence for now."

Kenji whoops, and punches his fist in the air. " Track for life!"

I laugh again, especially looking at how thrown off Adam looks at Kenji's outburst. You'd think the guy was used to it after six months, but no. Every time Kenji does something like this, Adam looks either shocked, annoyed, or both.

" Juliette?" Someone calls. I look around and see a man with long dreadlocks and tan skin holding a clip board.

I lift my arm up. " Present!" I yell. Well, not exactly yell, more like I say it louder than usual… I've been taught to try and make my presence unnoticed for years by my parents. Yelling was sort of out of the question in our house.

The man walks over and introduces himself as Castle. I find it a bit odd that one, his name is Castle, but mostly, that I don't have to call him Mr. something. I wonder if all teachers here are like that.

" So, do you want to start rotations, or would you prefer to dive right into a specific sport?" He asks after explaining the aspects of each sport.

" I think I'll do rotations" I say.

" Excellent."

Castle leads me to my first rotation. Foot Ball. Adam offers to give me my orientation and to my surprise, the coach agrees. I guess he has better things to do than to show an uncoordinated person like me how to throw a weirdly shaped ball.

" Okay," Adam starts, " you have to hold the ball like this," He gestures to the ball in his hand, and I try to replicate it with my own.

" Good, good. Now put your other hand in front of you like this, and throw the ball."

He demonstrates, and his ball goes sailing across the field. I try and copy his movements, but my ball makes a pathetic journey of about a meter.

" That was good! You've never played before right?"

I nod.

" I think you could be good at this, but I'm not sure you would like it… There's a lot of pushing and tackling in this sport."

I smile and nod again. He's probably right, but his words bother me a bit. Like he already thinks I'm too fragile. I ignore it though. At least he's talking to me. That's more than most other people have ever done for me. And hey, if I read this slightly differently, he's really just looking out for me.

My next rotation is Cheer, and it soon becomes clear that I suck pretty bad. I'm not flexible, or, as before-mentioned, very coordinated. I can't even do any of the _simple_ steps in their routines, so this sport is quickly dismissed.

I don't even bother with basketball, soccer or fencing, because those obviously need good hand-eye coordination, something that is more of a myth than a reality to me. Track goes surprisingly well for me, but my endurance is pretty low. If I have any hope in that, I'll probably need to train a lot.

The last sport I get to try for today is self defence. None of the people who sat with me at lunch are in this sport, so a guy named Warner is asked to give me my tutorial.

" Have you ever done any self defence before this?" His tone is sharp and very much to the point. He doesn't try and get to know me before jumping into the topic or anything.

" I've never really done any sort of physical training in general." I say to him.

"Okay, then I guess if you choose this for your Physical Training, we'll have to start with basics. Today we'll just do some simple sparring"

" Okay. Sounds good." He must have heard the tremor in my voice because he actually smiles.

" Don't worry, I won't harm you."

I smile back at him. I can't help but notice how green his eyes are.

'Simple sparring' apparently translates to, 'really tiring' in Juliette terms.

Basically, we each try to tap the a posing person with our hands. It proves to be more difficult than it sounds. I keep fighting the impulse to just run. By the end of first block, I'm more tired from self defence than from all of the other sports combined. The weird thing is, I kind of enjoyed it. I decide to go up to Castle and tell him that I've chosen it for me official sport. He nods and rights something down on his clip board.

I start to make my way over to the change room, but I catch someones gaze. Warner is staring at me from across the small field. I suddenly feel very self-conscious and quickly avert my gaze. I run to the change room, and strip out of my sweaty gym strip.

**Hey guys! So I hope you don't mind Juliette being so out of character, but I'm really excited about this! Please review! I would love to hear what you think, and I would love any suggestions whether it be about my writing, or my story. I hope you're enjoying this so far, and I look forward ****to hearing**** from you!**


	4. The Art of Reading Aloud

I walk across campus to my second class of the day. Science. I've always gotten good grades in science, but I've never really understood it. I usually get past by just memorizing words and paragraphs from my text book, then writing them down on a test. That and doing my homework has managed to get me pretty solid A's. I'm afraid that technique isn't going to work here though.

I walk into the musty smelling classroom, and take a seat in one of the chairs that sit along the length of the black marble tables. They are placed into 4 rows that go across the room. The teacher stands in front of the class, writing something on the white board. I hear a chair scrape the ground next to me. I look over only to meet the same green eyes I saw this morning.

" You should probably go ask the teacher for your seat. He assigned them in the beginning of the year, so you can't exactly sit wherever you'd like." The tone of his voice isn't quite mean or demeaning, but there's this sort of superiority to it, like he thinks he knows everything. This bothers me, but I don't show it. Instead I just nod before picking up my stuff and shuffling my way to the front of the class, to where the teacher is now sitting in his chair checking something on his computer.

" Umm, sir?" I say almost incoherently. I've never been able to speak very openly with teachers. If I'm lucky, my voice will come out in little more than a whisper.

" Yes," He booms, turning away from the screen and focusing his smiling face on me.

" Ah, you must be our new student, Juliette."

I nod.

" Well, you may call me Mr .Delalieu."

He sticks out his hand to me so I awkwardly shake it.

" So," he begins, " First of all, I'd like to inform you that I will not tolerate any shenanigans in this classroom."

He gives me a stern look and I nod again. Wow. I think this is my ultimate low for meeting a new teacher. I've literally only spoken two words to him and one of them was more of a sound.

" Now that that's out of the way," He smiles and the skin around his eyes crinkles. " We need to find you a seat." He scans the class, then he looks down at a seating plan in his binder.

"Okay, so I think that seat there, next to Warner is empty."

I thank the teacher before walking back to the exact same seat I sat in in the first place. As I sit down, Warner looks over at me but doesn't say anything. Neither do I.

" Alright class." Mr. Delalieu says standing up from his chair. "Today we will be continuing from where we left off last week. So please turn to page two-hundred-and-forty-seven in your text books."

Everyone starts taking their books out of there bags, lazily turning the pages of their books.

" Miss Ferrars, I will make arrangements for your text book after class, for today, I kindly ask Warner to share his."

Warner slides his text book onto the small space of the marble between us then opens it to the correct page.

The rest of the class goes quite smoothly. I follow along easily with the words of the text. Everyone takes turns reading out loud. The majority of the class stutters their way through the words on the page, and look pleadingly at Mr. Delalieu between paragraphs. About half way through the chapter, Warner's name is called. He clears his throat and begins to read in a strong loud voice. I'm almost certain that he's the only person so far who's read his entire part without a single mess up or stutter.

"Well done Warner." Delalieu says. " now who shall I choose to try and beat that..." His eyes wander dramatically around the room, until they settle on me.

" Ah. Juliette. Why don't you give it a try."

I look down at the text book that sits between Warner and me. My eyes search for the spot that he left off at, and then, finally, the words begin to fall out of my mouth.

I've never been the most talkative person. It may have had something to do with the fact that in pre-school children would make fun of me at carpet time because I'd never participate. Everyone would be taking part in the conversation, but I would just sit there. Listening. Knowing that most of what the other children were saying was wrong. The few times I _would _actually contribute to the class, the other's shunned me. So I basically stopped talking freely in general. That's when books became so important. It wasn't just the stories they held with in them, it was the fact that I could read them _out loud. _After years of practically being ignored by your peers and family, the sound of you own voice becomes foreign. Even though I knew no one was listening it was still nice to sit alone in my room, grab a book, and just read aloud until my voice went ragged.

So now, as I read the pages of the text book, my voice is strong and full of life. In fact, I guess I've gotten better at this than I thought, because Mr. Delalieu doesn't tell me to stop until the bell rings for third period.

" Alright class. Everyone finish reading this chapter for next Monday. We'll have the whole block to study, then in two weeks we'll have our test." The class groans in unison as they pack up their bags and make their way out the door.

" Juliette, come see me on Friday for your text book please."

" yes sir." I say before quickly taking off towards my next class.

**Please review!**


	5. Jumping Off

I sit down at a desk in the back of the room, and ready my things for the class to come. I take out my pencil case and binder before pulling out my planner and placing it carefully in the corner of the small wooden desk. Finally, I let myself fully take in the room it self. It's amazing. Today is Tuesday. My first day in my specialty class. All around the room are movie posters, that were either a book to movie adaptation or a movie made by one of the school's past students. I know this because beside each poster, a little piece of parchment paper hangs on the wall with both a movie rating, a comment, and if the movie was made by a past student, their name is written along with their graduating year. I'm already mesmerized, and it's not even the best part.

I get up from my seat and walk around the room, taking a closer look at the posters before my eyes wander to the most magnificent thing I've ever seen.

The room itself is oddly shaped. It's not just a square like shape, but more of a rectangle with a large hexagonal indention in one of the walls. Sort of like an extra room within the room, if that makes sense. Inside this little section of the room lie stacks and shelves and piles of _books_. even the floor is littered with them. In the small spaces where books don't cover the ground, pillows and blankets lay for students to sit and read, or do their homework as well I guess. I've been here for less that three minutes and I am already in love with this room.

Suddenly, a woman comes up behind me and taps me on the shoulder. I turn and meet her bright green eyes.

" Hello there. Enjoying the view?" Her voice is soft and light. Light brown hair frames her face in soft, large curls. She smiles as she talks. Not that calculated practiced smile that most teachers here seem to have, but a genuine smile, that seems to light up the entire room.

" It's so beautiful." I say.

She laughs, and it's as if someone has lifted a weight off my back that I wasn't even aware I was carrying. The sound of her laughter just makes you feel like your floating. I'd never met someone who could make you feel so happy by literally just stepping into the room.

" A fellow book lover I see. You must be my new student, Juliette right?" She holds out her small hand to me and I shake it. " My name is Leila. I will be your english teacher for the next three years."

I beam at her. " How many students are in this class?" I ask. Since this is a specialized class, the number of students is much smaller than the average sum. Since the school has such a small amount of students, specialized classes usually only contain up to ten students each, and that would be considered a lot.

" In this class, we have six students, two in tenth grade, one in eleventh, and three in twelfth. Your lucky, this ones a good batch."

I smile, excited to start class. " What's the class doing right now?" I ask.

" We're actually beginning a new unit today. Creative Writing. It's the longest unit, so it'll take us straight to the end of the year."

I smile. Creative writing was always my favourite thing to do in school. The second bell rings, and slowly, six other students start to trickle in. I return to my seat in the back of the room and wait for class to begin.

" Alright Class," Leila says. " Before we start our last unit, I would like to introduce our new student, Juliette Ferrars." She gestures to me and I try to smile despite the knots starting to form in my stomach. To my surprise most of the class smiles back.

" welcome to specialized english," a girl near the front of the class says grinning, " We're all mad here."

The class breaks into a fit of laughter and I quickly find myself joining in. Maybe I will enjoy myself in this school.

" Alright class," Leila says happily, " So our new unit is creative writing." The class breaks into a chorus of noise. " Now I know that for a lot of you, this is what you've been looking forward to all year, and some of you have been dreading it from day one, but either way, creative writing is a good skill to have."

" Now we're going to start this unit off with ashore story. Your topic is, stretching the truth. I'd like you all to choose an event in your life and describe it, but add in some details that may have never happened. For example, if I were choosing an event, I would choose the day I first got stung by a wasp. I was five years old, and I was on a camping trip with my family. I was sitting on a log near the lake eating a chicken leg, and a wasp came out of nowhere and started flying around my head, attracted by the chicken. To this day, I still don't know where I'd gotten the coordination, but I'd some how managed to grab the wasp out of the air between my index finger and thumb."

The class laughs both from the ridiculousness of the story, and because of all the wild hand gestures that went along with it.

" now this is where I can add bit of a stretch to the story. In reality, the pain of being stung by a wasp isn't too bad, but in the mind of a five year old, it can seem almost life threatening. So instead of saying, It hurt so bad that tears stung my eyes, I could say something like, _the stinger pierced my skin, and I felt the most unnatural pain that I had ever felt in my long five years on this earth_. It's dramatic yes, but it's also more entertaining to read."

I find myself trying to keep in my laughter along with the rest of the students, but when Leila finally finishes, I can't help it and I burst out into giggles. Leila then let us start on out own stories, and I get straight to work.

Twenty minutes later, Leila calls out for us to wrap up our last paragraphs, and to come to the small area of the room covered in blankets and pillows, with our stories. I slowly take out the page of lined paper out of my binder before making my way over to the hexagonal area of the room. We all sit down and wait for Leila to give us our next instructions.

" Okay," She says excitedly. " now everyone put their papers in the middle of the circle, and I'm going to shuffle it all up."

We all hesitantly put our papers in a pile, and wait patiently as Leila crumples up each one in a ball and throws them at random all around the room.

" Everyone go get a story!" she yells clasping her hands together in excitement. "Oh and don't choose your own!" She adds as we all got up from out spots to retrieve a crumpled paper.

" Alright. Alesha, you go first."

" Right, okay. Ummm…What am going first for?" Alesha turns out to be the girl who first called out when I was introduced.

" Read the story that you got to the class."

" Oooohhh!" She exclaims " got'cha." She un-crumples her paper, and announces that she is holding mine. My face burns as she begins to read.

_I am on a roof. I'm on a fricking roof. Sure its not that high, and the situation could be much worse, but that still doesn't change the fact that right now, in this exact moment in time, I am standing on the roof of my best friends house, and I'm scared of heights and she is standing directly beneath me telling me to jump down, but I can't because I'm still scared of heights and this entire situation is ridiculous. I wish I could complain about this not being my fault and about how I was forced up here by some vengeful _

_ex-boyfriend or something, but sadly that's not the case. I guess to fully explain the reason I am stuck here, on this god forsaken roof, I have to start from the beginning._

_Seven years ago, when I was eight years old, Camille, the person who is currently standing directing below me telling me to jump, and I were playing catch with a tennis ball inside her house. Camille accidentally threw it too hard, and I, being the most uncoordinated eight year old in existence, lunged for the ball. Needless to say I missed. Not only that though, I also managed to fall on my face while simultaneously bumping the small round table next to me with my elbow, knocking over the vase that lay atop it._

_Camille's mother came rushing into the room. She was wearing one of her fancy outfits indicating that she was getting ready for work. I can't be sure, since a pretty decent amount of time has passed, but I'm fairly certain that I was thinking an eight year old's equivalent of "shit". Camille's mother scanned the room, her deep green eyes looking first at the worried looks plastered onto our faces, then at the tennis ball that had rolled across the room, then finally at the broken vase that now lay in pieces on the hard wood floor. She'd lectured us about playing carefully in the house before sending us outside._

_Camille and me hadn't had anything better to do so we continued to play catch with the tennis ball in her drive way. It had probably been around a half hour when my lack of coordination decided to strike again. I threw the ball over-hand to Camile, but my aim was too high so it shot over her head and landed on the bright red roof of Camille's house. The situation just got worse from there. Camille decided the out best course of action would be to go back into the house and climb out of a window onto the roof and get the ball. The ball hadn't landed on the very top of the house, but on a mini roof I guess you'd call it. Like the small part that hangs over a porch, so I thought it would be fine. After all, it wasn't too high a fall._

_Fifteen minutes, Camille and I stood on the roof, the ball in her hand, and she was convincing me it would be fun to jump. Finally, I'd agreed, but only if Camille went first. She did, and I watched her land safely on the ground, but looking down at the freshly mowed grass beneath, my stomach started to feel queazy and I simply couldn't do it. I chickened out, and climbed back into the house through the window. _

_Camille and I buried a time capsule that year, and vowed to open it in five years. Earlier today, Camille and I had remembered about that time capsule, so we dug it up and inside, we found the very same ball that had broken the vase in Camille's house. Camille continued to make fun of me throughout the day about not being able to jump, so to prove to her that I could do it, I decided to get back up on that roof and actually jump this time. _

_Which brings me back to right now. Where I am standing on the roof of my best friend's house, looking down at that same freshly mowed green grass, as a familiar feeling if unease spreads through my boned. Finally, gather every single but of courage I have in me, and jump. _

"Wow, that was really good." A girl who I think is called Marta says.

" How much of that story was real Juliette?" Leila asks curiously.

" Ummm… Up until the part about the time capsule. I never actually jumped off the roof though. My friend used to tease me about it all the time."

What I don't say is that 'my friend' had later ditched me for some other girls, and later used every embarrassing thing she'd ever known about me against me. I think that's when I stopped trusting people.

" Okay, Juliette you read next." Leila says.

I nod and unfold the crumpled paper in my hand, and read out the name Paige. From across the circle I hear a loud voice yell "God dammit!" I laugh before reading aloud her story.

**Hey guys! So I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long, but I've been busy, and I was trying to finish my other story before investing all of my time into this one. I hope your all still enjoying it. PLEASE REVIEW!**


	6. Those Green Eyes

I walk across campus towards the dining hall when out of nowhere I walk straight into something. No, I realize looking up. Not something but a someone. Green eyes stare down at me.

" sorry, I was a bit lost in my thoughts." I mumble.

" That's quite alright. Are you lost in other regards as well?" Warner smirks.

I blush but nod. " I'm trying to get to the dining hall."

" Which one?"

I blink. Nobody told me there were multiple dining halls! what the hell?! And that's when I see the glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

" ha ha," I say, "Very funny." I try really hard to portray that I am not impressed but sadly, I don't think it quite works when your trying not to smile.

" Indeed, I think it was funny." He smiles before walking away. After a few steps he looks back at me with that same amusement in his eyes. " Well, aren't you coming?" I smile sheepishly before following after him.

" So, what classes do you have tomorrow?" Warner asks as we walk in the opposite direction of where I thought the dining hall was.

" Umm… French, Planning, history and an off block I think."

" I think I'm in your french class then." He says. " Why are you doing french anyways?" He questions.

" What do you mean, it's mandatory isn't it?"

He looks at me like I might be mentally ill. " Juliette, your last name is Ferrars. Isn't your family french?"

I avert my gaze. I was honestly hoping to get through more than two days without people asking about my family. I guess not.

" My parents and me didn't have the best relationship. Let's just say that spending extra time with me to teach me another language wasn't high on there lists of things to do…"

For the first time since meeting Warner, he looks at me like he actually understands me. Like maybe I'm not the incompetent brat he thought I was. I should probably be outraged that he thinks so little of me in the first place, but from what I've seen so far, he hasn't looked at anyone else in this school any differently either.

" We're here." He says after a few moments of walking in silence.

" I can see that," I say smiling. " Thanks. Are you coming in?"

" No. Too many students cramped together in one space disgusts me. It's like swimming in an ocean of pitifully low IQ scores." And with that, he walks away. " Enjoy!" He yells over his shoulder.

I turn and step in through the doors of the dining hall, but I can't help the smile that spreads itself onto my face. I think I can get used to this happiness thing.

" Hey Juliette, how was your first day in your specialty class?" Sonya asks me as I plop my tray down onto the table and sit down next to Adam.

" Good, Leila is a really cool teacher."

" Really?" Adam says curiously, " I always got the impression that she really didn't like me…"

I laughed at the thought of Layla disliking anyone. Maybe he'd been disruptive in class or something? " Do you have her for english?" I ask.

" Yeah. We all do. Maybe you should come in with me on Friday and when she sees that I'm friends with you it'll improve her opinion of me."

" I don't think the human mind works like that, but sure. I was gonna go there on Friday anyways."

He smiles proudly, " It's a date."

I stay in the dining hall for the next hour, having long ago finished my food. I find myself intrigued by my new found friends and their weird conversations.

"… So I had to act out a women giving birth!" Kenji yells at one point, describing today's days drama warm up.

" Have you ever seen someone give birth?" Sarah asks, her eyes glittering with laughter.

" No, thank god. I just sort of spread my legs and screamed a lot. The teacher called my performance a very terrifying yet authentic piece"

The table bursts out laughing. In that moment the pleasant sound of a bell chimes, signalling the closing of the dining hall. I walk back to my dorm with the twins, stopping at the girl's bathing chamber. Each girl has their own locker to store all of their hygienic necessities, such as a tooth brush, shampoo etc. Both Sarah and Sonya brush their teeth then head back to our dorm.

" I'll see you guys in a bit then" I say, " I should shower before bed today." They nod at me before exiting the chambers.

I take my shampoo, conditioner and towel out of my locker before walking over to the shower stalls and running some warm water. I step into the shower and I am finally able to just think about my day, and my new life, while I scrub away any remnants of memories that don't belong in me anymore.

As I return to the dorm room, I see that Sonya is already asleep in her bed, and Sarah is curled up in her own bed reading quietly by the light of the small lamp on her desk.

I check my phone and see that it's ten o'clock. Usually I'd stay up and read, or write, or something, but today I am feeling to tired to do much of anything so I just slip into my bed, whisper a quiet good night to Sarah, who mouths back, 'sweet dreams' and I quickly fall asleep.

**Hey guys! I'm so happy you guys are enjoying this! There's a certain beauty in writing for a fandom this small. I feel like we have closer bonds... Thank you to all of you who have been reading and reviewing! It means the world to me! It would be really nice though, if you guys could maybe make accounts? I want to be able to connect with you guys, and thank you properly and personally, but if you review as guests it makes that a bit harder. Also, when you join this amazing community of Fanfiction it is the best feeling! Plus your that much closer to maybe writing your own story... Anyways, thank you soooooooo much guys, I really hope your enjoying this! I love you!**


	7. A date?

Something pokes my face and I am startled out of my light sleep. _Whoops._ I somehow managed to fall sleep despite my french teachers booming voice. I look to my right and see Warner smirking at me. _You drool, _he mouths before averting his gaze and staring at the teacher as if nothing had happened.

I sit up in my seat and try to comb through my freshly tangled hair. The teacher, Monsieur Dubois, is a plump man that looks to be in his mid forties, his dark black hair sprinkled with bits of gray. A very promenant looking moustache grows on his face, somehow manages to work with the weird sweater vest I've come to realize is his signature look.

I try to listen to him talk about the futur tense and about it is somehow connected with _conditionel _whatever that is. My eyes start to roam around the room for what seems like the hundredth time. Posters are hung all over the walls with random words such as '_encroyable_' or '_magnifique' _usually accompanied by images of various animals. I'm sure some of them are even puns, but I honestly wouldn't know since my french vocabulary mostly consists of _bonjour _and _merci. _

At long last the bell goes off, finally allowing me to pack my bag leave the miserable posters behind. Just as I am exiting the room I hear a heavily french accented voice calling my name.

" Yes?" I say slowly backing up into the room.

" I'd like you to do these packets for me and hand them in next Wednesday. Hopefully you can get one of your friends to help you understand the grammar a bit better, but if needed I am happy to help you with it on friday classes."

I smile and nod before walking out the door. As I try to navigate the maze of hallways I feel someone tap me on the shoulder. I look to see who it is and find Adam's dark blue eyes staring back at me.

" Hey." He says.

" Hi."

" what class do you have next?"

I look down at the crumpled schedule in my hands and sigh. " planning."

He beams at me. " No way, me too!"

I'm about to point out that it's really not that shocking considering the small size of the school, but one look at the grateful smile on his face stops me.

" That's great actually since I have no clue where it is."

He laughs and starts explaining to me about how the school is set up. A science hallway, a language hallway etc. Again, I smile and nod.

Planning turns out to be the stupidest course ever created taught by possibly the most useless teacher I've ever encountered. Her name is Miss. Wat, which is basically what I'm thinking every time she opens her mouth. She does this strange thing when she speaks where she slurs her sentences together while also trying to enunciate every second word. I guess if I were to explain it, it would sound something like this.

" Okayclass_tTODAY_wearelearning_ABOUT_howNOTto_PROCRASTINATE._"

I have never heard the english language being butchered so badly. I probably would have died right then and there if Adam hadn't been texting me throughout the entire thing. Thankfully the bell rang just after he'd texted me if I wanted to go out on a date with him on the weekend. I know it was wrong, but I got out of that classroom as fast as I could and ran towards the dining hall. Sarah and Sonya were already at the usual table with Kenji.

" Hey guys." I say breathless from the running.

" Hey" they all answer back with questioning looks. " Umm.. is there a giant werewolf chasing you or something" Kenji says, "because last I checked, Juliet Ferrars doesn't run by choice."

" Ummmm… it's sort of long story…" I say just as I spot a brown haired head coming this way. _Shit. _

" Hey, Juliette where'd you go?" Adam asks as he sits down at the table.

_Okay, think Juliette. _" I had to go to the bathroom really bad so…" Adam nods like he understands. I feel like one of those cartoon characters that wipe that little drop of sweat off their face from relief. That is, until Kenji opens his mouth. " I thought it was a long story Juliette."

I kick him in the shin underneath the table ad he groans.

" Ouch!" I give him my best 'not now' look, and to my utter amazement, he shuts up. But not without texting me two minutes later saying he's showing up at my room after dinner.

" So Juliette, did you get my last text?" Adam asks just when I'm about to leave the dining hall. I think about different ways of saying no because honestly I've never been in a relationship. The thought of Adam trying to kiss me on out first date, or worse, the thought of me kissing him and messing up… Imaging a relationship is something I've always done. Self-inserting myself into my stories of epic romance. But now, with the text weighing me down, I have no idea what to do.

" Juliette?" Adam repeats.

" Ahh… Sure." I finally answer.

" Okay cool. I'll pick you up on friday. Where are you gonna be at the end of the school day? We can go somewhere for dinner instead of eating here."

I think about what I'm planning to do on friday. I suppose I'll spend my day in english, if not doing homework probably reading.

" Leila's room I think. I'll text you if I'm not there." I say.

We talk for a bit longer before I finally say that I'm tired and leave the dining hall. When I get to my dorm I see Kenji already waiting for me. He's sitting on the floor leaning against the door.

" So," he says. " What was all that about?"

I contemplate letting him into the room, but end up sliding down next to him. There's no need to prevent Sarah and Sonya from changing or studying because Kenji's in the room.

"The only thing missing form this picture is some sort of alcohol" I say.

" I can fix that if you want." Kenji smirks. " So, what's going on with you and Kent? He said he's gonna ask you out yesterday while we were brushing our teeth and shit."

I lean my head back against the door. " Well, he did."

" Did you agree?"

" Yes."

" Then why the hell are you not leaping for joy? From the whispers I've heard around this school, Kent is probably the most wanted guy in this school. You know, after me." I laugh, but it's half hearted.

" That's the thing. I've never dated anyone, and Adam's probably dated a bunch of girls. I'm really not skilled at this whole communicating thing in general, let alone dating."

" It's easy Juliette. Just don't do anything your not comfortable with. Trust me, if you don't want to do something, Kent won't force you into it. Just, you know, be yourself."

I smile at his advise. We stay there, leaning against the door for what seems like a life time. Eventually Kenji says he has to go shower and leaves. I slowly creek open the door, careful not to disturb Sonya or Sarah who are both already asleep. I quickly slip on my pyjamas and climb into my bed. I turn off my light and I'm just about to doze off when I hear Sarah's quiet voice.

" He's a good guy Juliette. Don't worry."

**Hey ****guys! So sorry this chapter was a bit rushed, but I just really wanted to rejoice in the fact that the Shatter Me series has been officially declared to be a tv show! I am sooooo excited for this! Please tell me all of your fan castings for characters! I think mine for Juliette is India Eisley. I honestly don't know for Adam, but for Warner I think Douglas Booth would be good. Please tell me what you liked about the chapter and what your excited for in the tv series! I swear there will be more Warnette in the next few chapter :) Please review!**

**Oh and thank you so much to Lala and Rach and anyone else who has kept up with this story since the very beginning! IF you guys don't want to make accounts that totally cool, but please do leave names or something! I really would like to communicate to you guys somehow. MY summer break just started today, so hopefully that means more updating! Thank you again soooooo much and please don't bail on me now!**


	8. I am a Bird

Today is another specialty class day. We're all writing 'I am' poems.

" An I am poem" Leila explains, "is a way to describe who you are, but instead of directly stating how you might feel about yourself or how you think others see you, you do it by putting it into a poetic form. It enables you to uses symbols and metaphors. You will have half of today to right the poem, then for the other half of the day, each of you will present."

I sit at my desk, trying to think of a way to express myself that doesn't sound like I'm contemplating suicide. In the end, I decide to write my poem like a journey.

At first, writing the poem is a bit challenging, but after a few lines, there's a sort of comforting rhythm to it. When I finally finish, I look up for the first time since starting to write and realize that we only have about fifteen minutes left of class. As if reading my mind, Leila calls out to the class that we're starting the presentations.

" I know I said only half the class, but you guys were all working so hard I didn't want to stop you. Unfortunately" She adds, " this means that we only have a few minutes to present, so we have to start right away. Ashley, you go first."

Ashley, a girl with jet black hair and grey eyes, calmly walks up to the front of the room, poem in hand. She takes in a deep breath before reading aloud the carefully written words from her page.

_"__I am a library, my walls filled with stories. _

_Each one is unique, and deserves its own exploring_

_Hundreds of shelves filled with all kinds of genres,_

_People coming and going, I aide them with their problems._

_"__They leave my library, with peace in their minds,_

_Little do they know, their own stories have been left behind._

_I save all of their stories, scared that people might forget,_

_For little pieces of them, would feel much regret. _

_"__I mean, imagine what our world would look like, if people didn't know,_

_The mistakes they made when they were little, when their minds were still pathetically slow._

_Yes they start with these little stories, ones that make me laugh and smile_

_But slowly they progress into novels that go on for miles._

_"__My shelves will keep on filling, with the stories of their hate._

_Their pain, their loss, their awfully depressing state._

_They have some happy stories too, ones that make me want to flutter,_

_But sadly the bad out ways the good, and it all ends in emotional clutter_

_"__I will be remembered, in their minds as something great, _

_But when the stories are to much for me, nobody's there to listen to my hate._

_I used to keep on trying to get somebody to listen, _

_but their libraries weren't open, so I let my own suck me in._

_"__I am a library, my walls are filled with shelves._

_Each one of them has stories, that people wanted to tell._

_I save all of these stories, pain, love and all,_

_For I am the library, ready to catch them when they fall."_

When she's finished, the class claps and smiles and praises her until Leila calls out the next person. I patiently wait as everyone reads their poem to the class, clapping happily after each one. Finally, Leila calls out my name, and I can finally get it over with. I walk up to the front of the class, and look around at all of the staring eyes. I decide to look to the back of the room instead, at the wall of books, or at the classroom door. When I am able to calm my heart enough to speak, I see the door crack open before Warner slips inside. I make eye contact with him before starting to read my poem aloud, wondering if his presence is making it easier or more difficult.

_" __I was a bird, stuck in an endless storm of rain. _

_My wings had been broken, because people said I wasn't sane._

_The ground was too close, and too far was the sky,_

_I wasn't made to walk, I was meant to fly._

_"__But I couldn't fly, because apparently no birds could,_

_That's what they all told me, but I'd pray that I'd misunderstood._

_For of course all of those birds could fly, that's why they had those wings_

_But I guess, _**_I_**_ didn't, no matter how much that made me sting._

_"__I tried to forget it, I tried to ignore it,_

_But that never ending rain, it just kept on pouring,_

_Until._

_"__Now I am a bird, preparing to soar,_

_I don't know what's in that sky, but if I've learned anything, it's that life is an open door,_

_People love to tell you that you don't mean anything, _

_but in truth, to you, in the end, you are _**_everything_**_. _

_"__Someday I hope to fly, and forget the ground completely,_

_but for now I'll live with the comfort, of knowing both reality's" _

Right as I finish speaking, the bell rings. The class claps, and a few people tell me how much they enjoyed my poem, but I barely process any of it because my eyes are entirely focused on the green ones across the room.

He's staring at me like he's experiencing some sort of break through. And then, as quickly as it came, the look is completely wiped off his face. As if it were never even there. But it was. I saw it.

When everyone finally leaves the room, Warner walks over to Leila and gives her some sort of note. She reads it, nods at him, then walks into the office that connects to the classroom.

" That was a nice poem." Warner says, walking up to me.

" Thanks, but you weren't meant to hear it." I say blushing.

" Happy coincidence then?" He smirks and I smile. " wanna go get some food?" he asks. "I know a place with the best sandwiches a few blocks away."

I agree, and before I know it, I'm leaving campus for the first time since coming to Anderson Prep, with a guy that I think I can call my friend.

**Hey guys! So i hope u enjoy this chapter. As you can probably tell, poetry is not my strong suit, but ****thank you**** anyways for suffering ****through**** it! I think that the Juliette Warner relationship will ****finally**** kick off from here, but it won't exactly be a romantic one quite yet, at least not obviously. I would like to thank those of you who made accounts! I will be sending you guys messages as soon as I have time! Thanks so much for reading, I hope you're all having great summers so far!**


	9. Unexpected Relations

Today is finally Friday. I ended up only coming to class at around nine thirty today, taking full advantage

e of my freedom. I probably would have slept in longer if Adam hadn't texted me asking if we could walk to class together. I told him yes and regrettably got out of my warm comfortable bed. He knocked on my door at around nine fifteen and we walked to english. Unfortunately sleeping in, as pleasant as it may be, disables you from eating breakfast. I stopped at the vending machine on the way to class, munching on my blueberry muffin while we walked.

" So, are we still on for tonight?" Adam asks as we turn a corner.

" Uh.. yeah. Totally." I say, having completely forgotten about our date. " Where are we going?"

" There's a diner about five minutes away from campus. Everyone goes there, since it's so close."

I nod, thinking about the crowded looking diner I saw on my walk with Warner yesterday. He'd pointed it out to me.

" This is where a lot of the students eat on the weekends. It's usually loud and filled with annoying conversations about things that don't matter. You should really check it out some time, it's quite entertaining to listen to."

I try not to laugh as Adam talks about the diner and how he loves their food, but a smile leaks onto my face anyways. Adam looks at me and smiles back, thankfully, completely misinterpreting. As we walk into class, Leila greets me happily. Adam and I sit down at one of the rows of desks and I watch as he gets out his stuff. He takes 'Romeo and Juliet' out of his bag and plops it onto the table with a sigh.

" You don't like Shakespeare?" I say with a smirk.

" It's so confusing. I can't understand whats happening." He says.

" What's your assignment?"

He takes out a binder from his bag and flips it open to a criteria.

"It's just an essay." I say skimming through the criteria, "Like a review or something. This is easy, you'll be finished by today."

He sighs again, but starts writing.

" Juliette, can you come over here please?" Leila is standing in the door way of her mini office. I walk over to her.

" I was wondering if you could help me with some re-organizing." She gestures towards the bookshelves in the little blanketed area of the room. " I've acquired more books through the years than I realized." She laughs quietly to herself.

" I believe you know Warner?" She says.

" Yes," I say hesitantly.

" Well, he's coming in today to help organize all of the books then help me enter them into my computer. The other day I was looking for a specific book, but I couldn't find it, so I realized it would be much easier if I could just search them up on my computer to find where they are."

I smile at her. " I would be happy to help you. I used to love organizing my book shelves at home."

I'm about a quarter through taking taking down the first book shelf when Warner arrives.

" Hey, I see my mom has found me some help."

I blink at him. Several times. " _your mom?_"

He laughs. " Yeah. That's why I'm in here so often."

I'm shocked. Like, seriously speechless. I try to find a resemblance between them, and I guess there are a few physical features that look similar but they're so different personality-wise that it's difficult for me to connect them in any way at all. This would explain though, why Warner is always so articulate. It would also explain, as he'd already mentioned, why he's here so often.

" So," Warner continues as if nothing happened. " I was thinking we'd put them in alphabetical order, and I'm brining in another book case tomorrow so that there aren't so many on the ground."

I nod, still not fully over the fact the Warner and Leila are related. Eventually I regain the ability to speak in coherent sentences, and we start to take books off of the shelves and put them in piles on the ground.

" So what do people do here on the weekends?" I ask making a new pile for 'A's.

" I wouldn't know, I don't hang out with these people, unless I have to." He answers.

" Hey, don't I count as one of _these _people now? I mean I do eat in the dining hall," I smirk at him.

" You're right, I should really stop spending time with you now, as your IQ is probably lowering by the minute. I'm worried about what you'll look like by monday."

I laugh. " Is there a reason you don't like everyone, or is it just second nature for you to be so pessimistic?"

" Their conversations bore me, and their personalities make me want to stuff my head in a blender."

" They can't all be that bad," I argue. " Maybe you just have to find the right group for you. Sit with me at dinner today."

" I might have actually taken you up on that offer, just to prove how wrong you are about your judgment," He says taking one of the 'A' piles, and typing the book titles into his laptop. " But, I unfortunately have plans."

He doesn't share any information beyond that and I don't push him. I've had to remind myself a few times today that I've only known Warner for a few days. He doesn't owe me any explanations on his life. In that moment, My phone buzzes in my pocket. I take it out and see that I have a text from Adam. Suddenly I remember my date with him today, and realize I wouldn't have been able to eat with Warner anyways.

_Wat r u doing with Warner? _The text reads.

_Reorganizing Leila's book shelf,_ I reply. _I think he's entering it into some sort of data base._

I take off another book from the shelf and see a bunch of scientific looking drawings. Suddenly I remember Mr. Delalieu telling me to come pick up a text book today. I look over to Warner.

" Hey, wanna take a walk with me? I need to go get a science text book."

He calmly gets up and gives his hand to me. I take it and he pulls me up.

" You don't know where it is, do you?" He says, eyes glimmering.

" Maybe…" I say sheepishly. I look over at the clock and see that we only have about half an hour left of the school day. I may not know where the science room is, but I know it's in a different building.

" I don't think we'll be back to finish this today," I say as we're walking towards the door. Warner looks down at his watch and nods.

" I'll go tell my mom that I'll work on it tomorrow. This wasn't meant to be a one day project anyways." He walks back towards Leila's office, and I come over to Adam's desk.

" How's the essay going?" I ask.

" I have a paragraph left. Where are you guys going?" He asks.

" I forgot that I had to go pick up a science text book today. Warner's going with me to make sure I find the right room"

" I can come with you instead," He says eager to leave his unfinished essay behind.

" No, that's okay. You can come meet me there after class though and We'll go wherever you plan to take me." I smile at him. He smiles back and nods.

I can see Warner heading back towards the door, so quickly follow suit. I wave at Adam before walking out the door.

**Hey guys, so I swear i haven't bailed on you or not this story, but I've just been reading some other books lately and I've just been an emotional wreck :P First there was Throne of glass, then I reread Eleanor and Park and yesterday I basically read all of Ignite me in one sitting because I was missing Warnette so much. I feel like I've just been reminded of my love for everyone in the books, but most of all Kenji. I'll admit that Ignite me isn't my favourite book ever, but it is pretty high up on my list. It is, however, a book that never fails to boost my mood up. That one scene where Juliette can suddenly control her touch, and everyone crowds around her and hugs her, just makes me so so happy that I feel like I'm floating on air. I love this series so much. Okay, so also, I would like to say thank you to all of you! You guys are just so amazing! Thank you so much for all of the supportive and lovely reviews, I really appreciate them. This is definitely one of my favourite stories to write right now, but I'm also finding it a bit difficult recently because I've sort of had a revelation. I've realized that every single story i've been writing has had romance as one of the main subjects in it, BUT, I personally have never been in a romantic relationship. That's why I think this story might start to take a bit of a turn... Don't worry there will still be Warnette moments, but they might come a different way than I'd originally planned... Thanks again for reading this story, I know it's not the best out there, but I really appreciate the support. I love you guys so much!**


	10. Kitty's

I'm sitting on hallway floor beside Mr. Delalieu's room, text book in hand. Warner leans against the wall beside me.

" So, where's Adam taking you?" He asks.

" Ummm… I don't know yet…" I trail off, not wanting to admit that Adam is taking me to the exact diner that Warner made fun of yesterday.

" So you're allowing a guy you just met five days ago, take you to some unknown destination?"

I look at him bewildered. " You did the exact same thing yesterday!"

" Yes," He says, causally picking at his nails, " But you see, if I decided that I was going to kidnap you, or murder you in some back alley, I wouldn't pretend to get to know you first. That would be a waste of time. I would probably knock you out then take you to the alley." He looks at me, mischief in his eyes. " Adam, on the other hand, seems like the type of person who would go through the trouble of gaining your trust before he killed you."

I'm laughing so hard my stomach is starting to ache. " Are you seriously trying to convince me that Adam is going to murder me tonight?"

And that's when Warner lets out a laugh. Not a breathy chuckle that I've heard a few times before, but an actual full on laugh. It's strangest thing to be witnessing.

" Of course not, that would be ridicules."

His laughing ceases, but a smile remains on his face. Like a remnant of a Warner with actual emotions. I'm still staring at that smile when I feel a small tap on my shoulder. I look up from the ground and see Adam's confused expression gazing back at me.

"uhh.. ready to go?" He asks.

" Yeah, sure." I get up off the ground. I'm about to start walking, but I look back at Warner for a moment.

" I'll meet you at Leila's room tomorrow. There's no way you're organizing that whole thing by yourself."

I quickly turn the other direction and start walking with Adam before Warner can object.

" So, did you finish the essay?" I ask Adam as we walk out of the science building.

" Yeah. It's not great but hopefully I'll get a B."

We continue walking in silence for a bit. The school was built in a pretty nice area. There aren't many cars around and roads are brick. It's like as soon as you leave campus, you enter a different world. There are old fashioned street lights along the side walks and every time a car does drive by, you get this weird feeling that it should have been horse-drawn carriage.

" This place is so nice. It has such a vintage feel to it. Like we're in a fairytale or something." My eyes wander as we walk and I sort of wish that Adam knew more about the history of this place. I tried to ask in the beginning but he didn't seem to know much on the topic.

" Was it just made to look old fashioned," I'd asked him, " or was this place just never reconstructed some how?"

Adam looked around, as if noticing the strange architecture for the first time. " I don't know, I guess it does look different from other places. I've lived here for most of my life, so I wouldn't know."

" Do you leave often?" I asked.

" Not really, I live up here with my brother in the summer as well. We have a little apartment a few blocks down that my dad pays for."

" Do you live with him?"

Adam looked down at his shoes and kicked a can onto the road. " No. He comes by a few times a month to see if we're still alive, but other than that he just leaves us there."

I realize how bad that sounds, but to me? It would have been one of the best things in the world to have gotten to live alone. I could have done so much more. Primarily, I could have gotten a job somewhere. Like a cafe, or a book store or anywhere where I could loose myself in a task. Unfortunately, my parents didn't care enough to allow me to live separately from them. So I was just stuck there, drowning in the sea of thoughts floating around in my head.

" We're here." Adam says. I look at the building in front of me, and hold in a giggle. We're standing in front a diner called, 'Kitty's'. There are students smoking cigarets outside the main door. I can see how crowded it is inside through the slightly tinted windows. Adam puts a hand on my back and guides me towards the entrance.

As we step inside, the noise hits my like a brick wall. It's as if they've cramped the already noisy cafeteria into a quarter of it's original size. Teenagers are yelling over their tables trying to be heard through the other teenagers yelling at each other. A few couples are making out in the corners as flustered looking waitresses make their way around the obstacles.

" Are you sure you wanna eat here?" I ask Adam, who's already waving to a guy wearing a varsity jacket.

" Yeah of course, it's the best place near campus."

I want to say that I highly doubt that, but I keep my mouth shut. Maybe I'll have an entertaining story to tell Warner tomorrow.

A waitress takes us to a table across the room and briskly hands us two stained menus. I thank her, but she's already rushing towards the kitchen.

" So, what are you ordering" I ask.

" Nachos. They're so good here."

I look down at my menu and read the five pathetic looking entrees. I contemplate whether a BLT or mac 'n cheese would more likely get me food poisoning, but I end up going for a caesar salad instead. (There's only so much you can do to romaine lettuce.) Adam asks me if I'm the type of girl who doesn't eat anything. I suppose this would have been another opportunity to snap at him for planning the worst date imaginable, but I don't. Instead I tell him that I'm just not feeling too well and don't want to risk anything too filling.

When my salad arrives ten minutes later, the lettuce is soggy and the croutons are stale. I take a bite or two throughout the meal, but mostly I just try to make conversation with Adam. He talks about football and and criminology but I start to zone out. I only realize that I'm paying more attention to the conversations around me than I am to Adam when I have to keep myself from laughing at a guys poor attempt justify homophobia.

Adam finally finishes his second plate of nachos, so we start to head out.

" I'm just gonna get a bottled water before we go." I say and head over to the counter.

As I'm standing at the counter waiting for my water, an average looking guy comes up to me. He looks back at his friends and laughs before looking me in the eyes and delivering the worst pick up line I've ever heard.

" I'm no weather man," he says, sweeping his bangs to the side, " but you can expect a few inches tonight."

I'm about to burst out laughing, but Adam comes up behind me and just glares at the poor guy.

" What did you just say to her?" He asks.

" relax man," the guy says, already backing away. " It was a joke."

Adam then puts an arm around me and tries to steer me towards the door. I slip out of his hold and go back to the counter for my water. I can't believe Adam had the nerve to do that. I'm not some five year old who can't handle being flirted with. I'm about to walk back towards Adam, but I walk towards the 'pick up line' guy instead.

" I'm really sorry about that." I say. " If you pass me your phone, I'll give you my number."

The guy grins and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell. I quickly enter my contact information before giving the phone back and heading out the door.


	11. Battle Scar

I'm waiting for Warner outside Leila's door. He texted me this morning saying to meet him here at ten-thirty. I came ten minutes early, just to brag about it. I've been at this school for about two weeks now and so far, Warner hasn't been late to a single class that I have with him. In fact, he's usually five minutes early. On Thursday, he reminded me all day about how I was late for french class. It was only fifteen minutes. Finally, at exactly ten-twenty-five, Warner comes around the corner carrying a tool box and a coffee tray.

" Beat you!" I say in greeting.

Warner just blinks at me, as if he doesn't understand the logic of this scenario.

" I just got you black coffee since I didn't know how you take it. Here's some cream and sugar if you want it." He hands me the tray so that he can unlock the door.

" I don't usually drink coffee. How do you take yours?"

The door swings open and we walk inside. " Black. I like the bitterness of it."

I set the tray onto a table and take a sip of the coffee. I'm surprised at the sour after taste. I've always associated coffee with a rich taste. I don't know how to explain it, but I guess I just thought it would taste the same as it smells. After taking a few more sips, I begin to get used to the bitterness.

" I suppose I take mine black as well." I say.

" Good choice." We take our coffee and make our way towards the back of the room. There are two long cardboard boxes on the ground.

" My mom decided that she wanted to add another set of bookshelves and replace the old ones as well, so I got these for her yesterday. How are you with building?"

I look down at the boxes, and pick up the instructions booklet laying on top.

" Probably pretty crappy. I do know how to read though."

We sit down on the ground and start unpacking the boxes. The installation of the bookshelves turns out to be a fairly easy process. I read out the instructions to Warner, and give him the correct screws that are told for each step. He basically does everything else.

" So, how'd the date go?" He asks.

" Okay. The diner was really loud though."

He looks up from screwing two pieces of wood together, and raises an eyebrow at me. " That's it?"

" Some guy hit on me before we left." Warner smirks and asks for more details. I tell him about the pick up line and about how Adam tried to defend me, but I shut him down.

" Wait, so you actually gave some random stranger your number?" Warner asks incredulously.

" Of course not!" I say laughing, " I wrote in a fake number, I just wanted to annoy Adam. I mean, he barely made any interesting conversation throughout the entire date."

" Are you guys over then?" He asks.

" I don't know. He didn't say much when we were walking back."

Warner smirks.

" What?" I ask.

He snorts. He actually _snorts. _I think that's the most ungraceful thing I've seen him do.

" You basically rejected him in a public environment. And not just any public environment. That diner is basically his. I don't know how he's supposed to live this down. "

I stare at Warner as if he's just spoken a different language. Maybe he did, and what I heard was just a complete misunderstanding. Maybe he was speaking in french and my mind wandered. I suppose he comprehended my blank look, because he repeats himself. Nope. Definitely not french.

" Oh my god. I didn't mean it as that big of a deal. I was just upset, and now I've possibly ruined his social life and-" I keep rambling like that until _I _can't even make out what I'm saying through my laughter. At some point or another Warner had joined in and now I have tears flowing down my cheeks. My stomach hurts, and I know this shouldn't be a funny situation but for some reason it is and now I'm splayed out on my back clutching my stomach. I'm long past hysterics now, probably _just_ flirting with border of insanity and suddenly, I open my eyes just wide enough to see that Warner is staring at me. He's staring at me so intently yet openly that my laughing cuts off completely.

" Why don't you do that more often?" He asks. He looks almost like he's in a trance. Like he's not quite himself. Or maybe I'm just seeing him for the first time. I don't know.

" Do what?" I ask.

" Open up like that." He stares at me for another moment, before a shocked expression takes control of his face, as if he'd only just realized what he was saying. He looks away, and finishes the last screw on one of the book shelves.

He starts to lift it up right, so come over to help him. As I'm reaching for it, my hand accidentally brushes his and he flinches. I mumble a sorry, and attempt to brush some hair out of my eyes, but my arm catches on a screw that has annoyingly embedded itself into the side of one of the shelves. My arm stings, and when I look at it, theres a pretty decent sized cut, even managing to ooze some blood.

Warner takes one look before rushing ( still unbelievably gracefully) towards Leila's office and getting her small first-aid kit. When he returns he sets me down on the nearest pillow and disinfects my arm with some wipes. It takes three regular sized bandages to cover the cut and if I'm lucky, it may even leave a shallow scar. A battle scar to remind of the time I lost a fight to a book shelf.

For the rest of the day, Warner insists that he does all of the physical labour, which would be fine with me if it didn't mean that I would get stuck with all of the other work. For the next four hours, I entered around a hundred books into the program on Warner's computer and then proceeded to put them all into alphabetical order onto the book cases. Throughout this entire endeavour, Warner and I discussed injuries. His were usually pretty impressive, while mine mostly involved falling down the stairs, or falling on the sidewalk, or falling of the monkey bars. You know, basically just a lot of falling. It was five pm. by the time we finished organizing the books onto the two new book shelves. Unfortunately there were still ablaut a hundred of them left in Leila's room. We left the room feeling accomplished and headed out for pizza.

**Hey guys! So I know that Juliette is pretty ****different**** in this story, but as you can see in this chapter, her whole non stop rambling in head ****thing is still there :P I hope you guys are enjoying this! This is the most fun I've ever had writing because I feel like Juliet is just turning into this amazing character. I loved her in Ignite me, and that's where this version of Juliet is coming from. There will be more flashbacks to her old life in the next few chapters so you will still see glimpses to a less OOC Juliet, but the flashbacks will also explain her new personality. Please leave suggestions, requests or thoughts or critiques in the reviews! I love hearing from you guys! I love you guys, thanks so much for reading!**


	12. The Search For Celery

"Okay," I say, " I'll go first."

It's Sunday night, and after half an hour of persuading Sarah and Sonya to play never have I ever, they've finally agreed.

" Never have I ever… ate celery with peanut-butter." The twins gasp in horror. I swear if you'd just come into the room, you'd think I'd just admitted to murdering a puppy.

" What do you mean?" asked Sonya incredulously. " What did you have for snacks in elementary school?"

" Is this really that big of a deal?" I ask through my laughter. " I mean, there _are_ worse things."

Sarah gets up, and walks over to our mini fridge. She takes out the peanut-butter, then begins to look for some celery. "Damn, we're out." she says, shutting the fridge.

" Let's go then," Sonya says excitedly.

" Go where?" I ask, standing up.

" The grocery store of course," Sarah says, as if it were obvious.

" Guys seriously?!" But they're already getting their coats. I sigh but grab my hoodie and put on my Uggs. There's no way I'm changing out of my sweats for this.

As we're walking out of the dorm buildings, I here someone yell my name. I look over and see Kenji sprinting towards us.

" Jay!" Kenji half yells, half wheezes at me. He's standing in front of us, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

" woah! Did you like run a marathon or something? You look like you're about to die."

He stares daggers at me, but he still can't speak in more than coughs and wheezes, so we wait patiently until he recovers his breath.

" Actaully," she finally gets out, " I've been with Kent for the past day and a half, and all we've done was work out while he talks about how terribly your date went. What the hell did you do to him?"

I blush as the twins stare at me wide eyed. " What do you mean? It just didn't work out okay?"

" That is most certainly not 'okay'," Kenji says, making little air quotations with his fingers. " Kent said you basically asked another guy out right in front of him."

My face turns into an even deeper shade of red. " Did he tell you what _he _did before that?" I ask.

" Yeah!" Kenji yells, his voice back to full volume. " He said he'd just saved you from some drunk!"

" What? That guy wasn't drunk." I say. " And I didn't need saving…" I trail off on the last part, remembering how small Adam had made me feel. Like I couldn't even defend myself from someone's jokes.

Kenji really looks at me for the first time in this conversation, and his eyes soften a bit.

" He was trying to help Juliette."

" I know, but…" I sigh. " I don't need someone else to get me out of every awkward or uncomfortable situation I fall into. I'd like to have someone I could tell about it later on, but I do have a functioning brain."

" Look Ada-" Kenji stars to say, but I cut him off.

" Can we just not talk about this right now?"

Kenji sighs, but nods. He looks over at the twins who seem mildly confused, but entertained enough.

" So, where were you girls headed at this late hour?" I look down at my watch to see that it's already eight thirty.

" Oh guys, he's right, we only have half an hour till curfew. If we want to go, we should start going. Like now."

We all start to walk, and explain the celery situation to Kenji.

" Wait, like never?" He asks, just as traumatized as the twins were.

" No. It's not even my fault! My parents just packed me a sandwich and occasionally some welches or something. They weren't big on the 'nourishing' thing…" I say, leaving out the part where my parent's were never great at the whole 'caring' thing either.

It takes about five minutes to get from our dorm building to the on-campus grocery store. The system for the store is pretty neat here. Everyone gets a food-card, which is like a debit card, but instead of putting money on it, we use a point system. The school grows their own vegetables in the garden and instead of hiring chefs, all of the students are required to help out in the kitchen. When you help in either the garden or the kitchen, a certain amount of points are added to your card. You may then use said points in the grocery store, to buy whatever you want, for example, celery.

We enter the store, laughing about Kenji's latest drama story. Sonya steers us directly towards the vegetable aisle and takes a pack of celery sticks.

" Do we have any strawberries or Nutella left?" She asks as she puts the celery into our basket.

" We still have a full jar of Nutella," I say recalling our mini-fridge, " But I'm pretty sure we ran out of strawberries yesterday."

We make our way through the store slowly filling up our basket. When we go to pay, we split the cost between the three of us, then make our way back to the dorms.

" So this is where I leave you." Kenji says dramatically when we get to the girl's dorm building.

" Oh no." Sarah says sarcastically. " However will we survive."

We all laugh, say goodbye to Kenji and walking up to our room. It's exactly 8:59 as we step through our door.

" Now for the moment of truth," Sonya says, taking the peanut-butter out of the fridge.

We open up the bag of celery and the twins watch me intently as I dip a piece into the jar of peanut-butter. I nod my head as I chew.

" It's good," I say after swallowing.

The twins look pleased with themselves now, so we start getting ready for bed. I leave the room to go take a shower, while the twins volunteer to pack our groceries into the fridge.

As I'm showering my thoughts start to wander. I probably can't get away with not seeing Adam tomorrow, unless I go eat lunch with Warner instead of my friends… But I don't know where Warner even eats lunch.. Does he eat lunch? Maybe he just skips it all together. I'll have to ask him, because now I'm genuinely curious about whether he eats lunch or not.

Wait! Why am I thinking about him so much? I should be thinking about what I'm going to say to Adam tomorrow. I mean, what was I even thinking before? I can't just run from him forever, hiding behind Warner's back. OH MY GOD! There's Warner popping back into my head!

The rest of my shower and the majority of my night, go on like that. My mind reeling with anxiousness about Adam and a new found confusion about my feelings towards Warner.

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for sticking with me here! I know I'm a terrible person for not updating but school is kind of a pain. I have sort of set a schedule for myself now ****though, which has due dates for my story chapters! I should be updating either on wednesdays or Sundays now every week. I really appreciate all of your reviews! They make my day! Please keep reviewing, with any suggestions for my writing or the story itself, or any critiques you may have. I love you guys so ****much, thanks for all of the support!**


	13. Spectacular Abs

" We can't be 'broken up' if we never dated" I say to Warner as we're sparring.

It's PE day again and I'm dead tired from not getting any sleep the night before. Every time I closed my eyes, I'd see Warners looking back at me. I'd see his perfect skin and bright green eyes. I'd see the smile that only comes out on the rare occasion I can make him laugh. Not just chuckle, but really laugh. Now I'm standing right in front of him, overflowing with the giddiness that often appears with a crush, trying to hit him as many times as possible.

" Alright, fine," He says. " But I'm pretty sure you broke his heart. That, or his ability to hold down liquor."

" What?" I say.

In my moment of confusion, Warner hits me in the stomach and I fall over onto my butt.

" Oh damn!" Warner says rushing to help me up. " you've got to pay attention Juliette!"

I brush away his help and get up on my own. " I'm fine, you just caught me off guard." I say.

" What did you mean about holding down liquor?"

" Kent got pretty drunk last night, I could hear him from the other side of the dorm building."

" I thought you lived with your mom in an apartment off campus?" I say

" Usually yeah, but I have an agreement with my father that I sleep on campus at least once a week."

" why?" I question.

"Because, he's far too interested in his school's reputation."

_"__His School?"_

I hit him in the abs so hard that he actually takes a step back. I'm fairly certain it hurt me much more than him considering I am now holding my hand again my chest, cursing and he is laughing so hard I see a few people turn their heads.

" Apologize!" I yell at him. I try to sound serious and angry but it's hard when you're trying not to laugh.

" Why?" He asks, still laughing. " You're the one who hit me!"

" Because your abs hurt me!" I say, still cradling my hand.

" Alright, alright, I'm sorry for having such spectacular abs." He says.

" Hey," I say defensively. " a) that wasn't a proper apology, and b) they're not _that _spectacular."

He gives me that look where he raises one eyebrow, then he lifts up the front of his shirt to show me his- fine spectacular- abs.

" Okay, fine. They're _mildly _spectacular. But really they're just bordering the line between spectacular and just great, so…"

With that, Warner picks me up flips me upside down before dropping me on the wet dewy grass.

" Whoah !" I yell at him. " Not cool!"

We're both laughing when Castle comes over to tell us to train instead of fool around.

" You and Warner seemed to be having fun today." Sarah says to me suggestively.

We're in the change room getting dressed. Sarah and Sonya took me to the school shop on the weekend so that I could pick up some more school gear. I now own five different school hoodies and jumpers and a bunch of different patterned T-shirts.

When I say everyone has to wear school uniforms, I don't mean the gross ones that most private schools insist on torturing their students with. Anderson Prep has both a catalogue and a school shop that sell the newest styles of clothing, but with the Anderson Prep Logo on them.

This is all still pretty new. About two years ago, the school introduced a clothing design department. They design nice looking clothes that students would actually like to wear. The design students then teamed up with the economics and marketing students to figure out a way to sell and order the clothes they make. Now, it's all part of they're curriculum.

" We're just friends," I say, pulling on a red hoodie on top of my white tank.

" Didn't look like it out there.." Sonya giggles.

" Can I sit with you at lunch today?" I ask Warner as we're walking to Science.

" Whats wrong with your group of weirdos?" He asks.

" They're not weirdos. I think Adam's mad at me."

Warner snorts. " Okay," I say, " I know he's mad at me. He didn't eat with us this morning and I don't want him to feel like I'm taking away his friends."

" But you're not." Warner answers suddenly serious. " If he blames you for them choosing you then he should leave."

" Look." I say not wanting to get into it. " Do you wanna eat with me or not?"

" Alright. But don't you dare complain about the walk."

I'm giving him a confused look but he doesn't notice. He's already sitting down and taking out his text book.


	14. A Rose by Any other Name

I'm walking off campus with Warner when I see Adam glaring at me from his spot near the fountain. I try to wave but he looks away and turns around. I try to ignore it but for some reason, this bothers me.

" So," I say attempting to take my mind off of the subject. " where are we going?"

" My apartment." Warner answers casually. "You're lucky my mom's home, otherwise we'd be eating microwave dinners."

" I don't want her to have to do extra work or any-" Warner cuts me off.

" It's fine. We usually have leftovers anyways, and she loves you."

" I'm pretty sure she doesn't, she's only known me for like two weeks."

" Trust me." There's a sort of glimmer in his eyes as he looks at me. " Two weeks was enough."

My cheeks get red. It's odd to think about Warner and Leila sitting at the dinner table talking about their days. They're so different… I still can't completely wrap my hear around the fact that he's her son. If it weren't for the way their eyes crinkle up when they laugh, I couldn't have found any resemblance at all.

" Okay," Warner says as we approach an old fashioned looking apartment building with fancy black metal stairs on the outside of it's walls. " so I wasn't planning on telling anyone this, but I also wasn't planning on ever bringing anyone from school here so I guess this entire situation was quite against the odds. My mother agrees to call me Warner at school because that is my preferred name, but at home she refuses and insists on calling me by the name she picked out for me. So, before you come into our home, I am forced to inform you that my actual name is Aaron."

I am frozen. I feel as though I've been seeing Warner through a piece of glass and suddenly it has shattered and I can see him clearly for the first time. It makes no sense for a name to have to much influence on how we see people but somehow it does. Looking at Warner now, it's like he's a diffrent person.

" Why don't you go by Aaron?" My voice is quieter than usual. Almost fragile.

" I just… don't."

I leave it at that, mostly because Warner- Aaron starts walking towards the Lobby door. He unlocks it and we step inside. We walk into the elevator and he presses the button with the number 4 on it. we walk down a hallway until we get to a door engraved with the numbers 23.

Aaron unlocks the door and we step inside.

**HEY GUYS! SO I KNOW I HAVEN'T BEEN UPDATING MUCH BUT LIFE REALLY HAS BEEN GETTING IN THE WAY. I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE STILL ENJOYING THE DIRECTION THAT THIS STORY IS GOING, BUT TO BE HONEST IT REALLY HAS TAKEN A LIFE OF IT'S OWN. I NEVER SAW IT GOIGN THE DIRECTION THAT IS IS NOW BUT THINKING BACK, I DO REMEMBER WANTING TO HAVE MORE OF WHATS COMING NEXT IN IGNITE ME. I KNOW THIS SOUNDS VERY CONFUSING FOR YOU GUYS SINCE YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHATS GOING ON IN MY HEAD, BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE STARTING THIS STORY, I THINK I ACTUALLY MIGHT. I'M GOING TO TRY AND UPDATE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE BUT AS I'VE SAID BEFORE LIFE JUST KEEPS INTERRUPTING. PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING BECAUSE AS MUCH AS EACH REVIEW SAYING ****_UPDATE! _****MAKES ME CRINGE WITH ANXIETY, IT DOES ENCOURAGE ME TO KEEP WRITING. PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND IDEAS WITH ME! I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU GUYS, IT TRULY MAKES MY DAY TO HEAR ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK OF THE CHAPTERS! I WILL TRY AND UPDATE SOON, BUT I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW ANYMORE :( THANKS A BILLION FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT I LOVE YOU GUYS!**


	15. Would Smell As Sweet

" Aaron is that you?" Leila's voice carries through the cheerful looking apartment. If I thought Leila had a lot of books in her room back at the school, then the amount of them in the apartment must make made it a library. There are shelves of them everywhere. Some are labeled, while others colour coded and some are just completely random.

" Yes mom!" Aaron yells. " Juliette's here as well."

Leila steps into the small entry way, her hair up in a messy bun and a cute apron around her waist.

" Hi Juliette. It's so nice to have company for once."

Leila finishes making dinner for the next half hour or so, so Aaron shows me around the small apartment. There's a living room, two master bedrooms with connecting bathrooms, a kitchen and an entry way.

" Wow, this place is pretty nice. Did you grow up here?"

Aaron thinks about it for a moment. " Yes, but I have some odd recollections of spending time in a really big house when I was younger. I remember there being another boy there around my age… I think we played together…" He trails off, seemingly lost in thought.

" Do you know who he is?" I ask.

" No. I honestly don't even know if the memories are real or just figments of my imagination."

" You don't remember what happened" I mutter to myself, " What you remember becomes what happened."

"What?" Aaron asks.

" Nothing, just a quote from a book I read."

After a few moments of silence, Aaron proceeds to show me the rest of the apartment. The last stop we make is his room.

" This is it?" I ask as my eyes wander around the bare walls and made up bed.

" What's wrong with it?" He asks.

" Nothing, it's just so… plain."

Aaron looks at me questioningly. " What were you expecting love?"

I abruptly turn my head towards him. _Did her just call me love? _

" I may not know a lot about normal lives," I say, "but I'm pretty sure bedrooms are supposed to show at least a bit of self expression."

" How do you know this isn't my idea of self expression?"

I smirk. " Okay then, I'll just remember to keep in mind that you're truly just plain and boring on the inside. Nothing remarkable in sight."

Aaron strategically shoves me with his shoulder so that I fall directly on the prettily made bed.

" Ha!" I yell. " Jokes on you and Boring! Your plain and boring bed sheets are all wrinkly now."

I swear he's about to sit on me when suddenly Leila comes into the room to tell us that dinner's ready. I could just be imagining it, but I swear I see the same twinkle in her eyes that I sometimes see in Aaron's when he's planning on making a joke..

" Juliette, please spend the night here," Leila says. " I really don't walk you walking back to campus at this hour."

I glance over at the clock and notice that it's well past eight. " Well, if you're sure you don't mind-"

" Of course we don't mind! No sense risking your safety." I laugh a bit but agree. It's not like it would be any trouble for them to take me back to school tomorrow.

I text Sonya that I'm staying at a friends house for the night so that they don't worry.

_what friend? _She replies almost instantaneously. She adds a suggestive smiley face on the end, making it clear that I can't very well lie to her convincingly.

_I'm staying at Warner's house. Now I'm turning off my phone so don't bother! _

Sonya still manages to get in a few emojis before my phone shuts off.

" Hey, Warner, do you mind if I borrow some sweats or something?" I realize that as strongly as Warner has become Aaron in my head, he's still Warner in the outside world.

" Oh, right. Umm… yeah. Probably." He gestures for me to follow as we walk back in the direction of his room.

As we enter Aaron heads straight for the closet. He opens it up, and steps inside. That's right, Aaron has a walk in coset. As I follow him in, I gasp.

" Damn!" I say. " This is bigger than my dorm room!"

He laughs. " I like to keep my clothes nice okay?"

Now it's my turn to shove him. " Ah, so I guess you're not Mr. Plain and Boring. Turns out you're a fashionista."

He smirks, but doesn't do much to deny it. Aaron's closet is filled with suits, designer jeans, an endless supply of v-neck t-shirts, an entire array of shoes and I can guarantee there's more hidden somewhere inside all the drawers and cubbies.

Aaron walks over to one of the dressers and opens up a drawer. He hands me a pair of grey sweat pants. " These shouldn't be too big. You'll have to roll them up a few times though."

"It's fine." I say. I walk out of the closet and into his bathroom. Leila already gave me a toothbrush, so I strip down into just me tank and underwear and put on the sweats. I have to roll them up the four times so that they down fall off my hips and I push up the pant legs just below my knees.

I start opening up his bathroom drawers looking for tooth paste, when I hear him yell through the door, "Top drawer on the left." I blush but yell out a thank you.

When I'm finished brushing my teeth and washing my face, I come out of the bathroom to find Aaron in another pair of sweats and an old looking t-shirt.

" Well," I say in mock surprise. " Who would have thought you'd have more than one pair of sweats _and _an old t-shirt."

He laughs, but doesn't say anything. I start to realize how much more I've heard him laugh and seen him smile today than any other day at school. As weird as it may be that I'm spending the night here, I'm glad that I got to see what he's really like.

" You can sleep on the bed, I'm just going to go grab a spare mattress from the closet in the living room." He's already out the door before I can even protest about stealing his bed.

A few minutes later, Aaron comes back with a mattress, pillow and blanket. I try to persuade him to sleep in his own bed but he refuses to budge.

Half an hour later, the lights are off and I'm lying in Aaron's bed starring at his ceiling and listening to our synchronized breaths.

" Warner?" I whisper.

" Yes?"

" Why don't you go by Aaron?"

I know I kind of already asked him this, but he never really gave me an answer.

" I just don't…"

" Warner."

" Okay, I guess because there's too much attached to the name."

" Okay. Then, why Warner?"

There's silence for a few beats. I start to listen to our breaths again when he finally answers.

" It's my mother's maiden name. She… She wanted a divorce but my dad wouldn't let her get one, so I took her last name as my first… sort of in spite of him I guess."

More silence.

" Do you see him often?"

" Unfortunately."

This time the silence lasts longer. Finally I gather up enough courage to ask something that I've wanted to ask since entering the apartment.

" Warner?"

" Yes Juliette?"

" Can I… can _I _call you Aaron?"

I don't know if I imagine it, but I think I hear a sharp inhale from the floor.

This silence is longer than all the other ones combined. It lasts so long that I feel myself falling asleep when I finally hear it. One breathy, whisper of a word.

" ok."

**Hey guys! So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It was definitely my favourite to write. The quote that was in the beginning is from the book An Abundance of Katherines by John Green in case anybody was wondering. I'm gonna try and update this as much as possible over the next few days but I can't make any promises! Please leave your thoughts and critiques and anything else for me in your reviews! Love you guys so much, thank you for reading!**


	16. Waiting for Inspiration

" So let me get this straight," I'm walking to school with Aaron, trying to convince him of how spoiled he is. " Your mother wakes you up everyday for school, _and _makes you breakfast but, you're not spoiled."

Aaron just looks straight ahead, completely ignoring me.

" Oh, very mature Aaron. Using the silent treatment to try and win an argument."

He still doesn't say anything, but I manage to catch the shadow of a smile run across his lips. Last night, after our conversation in the dark, I couldn't fall asleep for at least an hour. I kept thinking about why he would go to such lengths to change his name just because of his father. Like, what could he have done that made Aaron want to loose all association with him?

" Juliette," He suddenly sounds very serious. "I would appreciate it if you didn't call me by my first name at school."

" Sure," I say. Honestly, I had already sort of figured that he wouldn't want me announcing his name to the world.

" Thanks."

We walk in silence for the rest of the way, but weirdly enough it doesn't feel uncomfortable. After last night, I feel closer to Aaron than I've ever felt with anyone else. I think I may be falling for him. Admitting that to myself is such a scary thought that I immediately push it away.

As we near the school, I see Sonya and Sarah standing by the fountain talking to Kenji. They notice me at about the same time Aaron notices them.

" I sense something odd about to happen, so I'm going to walk in the opposite direction. I'll see you later." And with that, Aaron walks off towards his class.

" What the _hell_ Juliette." Kenji says as he's walking towards me. " You spent the night at _Warner's_ place?"

" Yeah…" I try desperately to think of a way to make it sound like less of a deal, but nothing seems to come out. " Look, I didn't want Adam to feel like I made him look bad then stole his friends or something so I figured I'd just go hang with Ar-Warner for a while."

I mentally kick myself for almost saying Aaron.

" Jay! You can't just do that okay? You can't just ditch all of us because your having problems with Kent."

" I know, and I'm sorry, but… I don't know. I just feel like you guys were his friends first and you've only known me for a few weeks. It's not fair for me to make him feel uncomfortable at his own table."

Kenji rolls his eyes. " First of all, it ain't his table. If anything, it's my table and _I_ want you there. Secondly, If Kent feels uncomfortable then it's his job to do something, not yours."

I sigh. " Alright, fine, but you have to talk to him and tell me if he hates me or not."

Kenji laughs. " He doesn't hate you Jay, he's just… annoyed I guess."

" I still don't understand why he took this so seriously. The more I think about it, the less important that night seems."

" Just ignore it Jay. He'll come to his senses eventually." I look up and for the first time in our conversation, I can see a familiar glint start to form in Kenji's eyes. " So," He starts, his voice getting a slightly higher pitch, " what's up with you and Warner?"

And just at that moment, the bell rings and I _have_ to rush to class.

_No way you're off the hook yet, _Kenji texts as soon as I'm in class. _meet me at Yumi's for lunch._

Yumi's is a frozen yogurt place on campus. I've gone once before with Sarah and Sonya but that's it. Hopefully I'll be able to find it again.

" Okay guys." Leila says just as the last few people are coming in. " Today we are starting our first legit short stories. Paige, please hand these out for me."

Paige takes a pile of papers from Leila's hand and starts passing them around.

" This is the criteria for you're first short story. It has to be a minimum of five-hundred words. but I'm sure that most of you will go well over that, so I am setting a maximum or two-thousand. The story must have the theme of either, Love, Fear, Humour, or Adventure. Obviously other themes can be thrown in, but one of your themes must be one of those."

I hear a few groans break out, and one girl, Eliza yells out " This is restricting our creative abilities!"

Leila laughs. " I'm not trying to restrict you in any way and I'm sorry if that's how you're feeling. The idea of this activity is to try and get you guys to step out of your comfort zones and write in a direction you normally wouldn't. It's always interesting for me to read these stories because I get to see all of the different ways you guys can manipulate the way you tell your stories to match my criteria."

I look down at the criteria that not lays stop my desk.

Love

Fear

Humour

Adventure

" I know that some of you will easily come up with stories for any of these themes, but I also know that a number of you will struggle. A few years back, I had a boy in one of my regular classes that would only write about penguins."

Several people in the room laugh.

" Every assignment I gave him, he would somehow find away to make it about penguins. He wrote descriptive paragraphs, poetry, short stories, all about penguins. So, that year, I gave the class this exact assignment. He complained for a while, but eventually he handed in one of the most interesting and deep stories he'd ever written. It was about a man who grew up with a continuing flock of penguins. As the story went on, the man got older and the penguin flock got smaller until finally there was only one left. The man died and the penguin was left alone without a home. The theme he chose was love. So you see, this assignment, as specific as it may seem, is quite open ended in the long run."

I stare down at the criteria and wait for some sort of inspiration to hit me. Unfortunately nothing really does. Most of the things I right tend to be sad, relating to my past. I suppose I could write an adventure story, but I hate having to describe everything so much, and I don't have much experience with adventures. I guess the only thing that really fits into my category of writing is fear, but I gave up on that feeling long ago.


	17. Yumi's

" Okay Juliette, spill."

Lunch only began ten minutes ago, and already I'm being interrogated by Kenji.

"Nothing happened." Even as I say the words, my mind is reeling from with thoughts of my late night conversation with Aaron.

"There's no way you slept at a guy's house, and nothing happened." Kenji crosses his arms and scoffs at my supposed lies.

"Well nothing did, we talked, ate dinner, talked some more then went to bed." I try to sound firm, leaving no doubt for Kenji to question.

" So you're not like dating or anything?"

I ponder this. I'm pretty certain that if we were dating, Aaron would have made it pretty clear. I mean thus far in our relationship, he hasn't exactly been the type to beat around the bush.

" I don't think so." I finally answer.

" Do you want to be?" Kenji's looking at me with a serious expression. It's as ifhe genuinely wants to know. That might be the scariest part, the fact that I _know _he does genuinely want to know. Because- here it comes- Kenji… cares. As this realization hits me full force, I can't bring myself to lie to him.

" I- I think I do… want to be." I stumble on the words, afraid that the second they come out they inevitably become true.

A big toothy grin spreads itself onto Kenji's face, his eyes lighting up with excitement.

" Well are you going to tell _him_ that?" Kenji stuffs a giant spoonful of his frozen yogurt into his mouth, clearly delighted.

" How am I supposed to do that?" The nervous butterflies flutter around my stomach activated by just the idea of having that sort of conversation with Aaron. The one last night already nearly made me explode with anxiousness.

" I don't know Jay, that's your job to figure out. You have to make your own first moves otherwise the rest of them will be unstable."

I laugh, thinking about how well that line would fit into one of those old kung fu movies. " When did you decide to become all wise?"

" Hey!" Kenji protests, "I've always been wise. I'm like the wisest person on campus."

We stay at Yumi's until we hear the bell ring, signifying my return to Leila's. As I'm walking towards the classroom, I feel like each hallway and each person I pass are suddenly filling me with excitement. It's like twenty minutes ago, my inner faucet of inspiration was out of order or something, but now it's running full force. As I finally reach the classroom, I sit down and begin to write my story. Who would have thought my theme would be love in the end?

**Hey guys! So I sort of have a Beta now :P Isn't this exciting?! Ok, so anyways, you may not prepare for some sappy Warnette moments coming your way next chapter. I;m almost finished writing it and it should be posted tomorrow. I'm sad to say that you should also start preparing yourself for some tears because one of the main plot lines is starting next chapter and the most i can tell you is... grab some tissues. Okay so, please review! I love hearing from you guys, and I swear the next chapter will be much longer than this! I'm really sorry for the shortness of this one, I just really wanted to give you ****_something_**** tonight. So, keep a look out for the next chapter because i swear it's coming. **


	18. Release

My conversation with Kenji seems to be preventing me from sleeping. I don't think I'd realized how strong my feelings for Aaron were until I said what I did out loud. It feels almost as if they've multiplied or something.

I've heard the expression 'butterflies in your stomach' before, but I don't think that's quite what this feels like. _This _feels more like someone blowing up a balloon in my stomach, but instead of popping, the balloon just keeps growing and growing and _not_ popping. You'd think that I'd run out of space or something, but for some reason I don't. It's like I really should be exploding by now but I just… can't. Like this bundle of nerves and feelings are stuck inside of me and I really just want them to go away but they don't and there's just no _release._ I fall asleep thinking of how to quench this never ending agony that I guess people seem to refer to as a crush.

" Well look who decided to show up." Kenji yells as I place my tray on the table.

" Julliet!" Brendan exclaims. " I thought we scared you away already."

I laugh. " It's gonna take a bit more than you guys to scare me away for good."

I look across the table at Adam. He doesn't say anything, he just stares down at his plate. Kenji notices my gaze and kicks me lightly under the table. When I look up at him he mouths _'his problem now.' _I smile weakly back at him, but I still can't help but feel a bit guilty.

After breakfast, I start making my way towards French. As I'm walking I spot Aaron and run up to him.

" Hey." he says as I start walking along side him.

" Hey."

We walk in silence for a while, neither of us knowing quite what to say.

" So… you busy after school today?" I finally ask.

" Sort of." He answers. " I'm finishing up with the data base for my mom. You know, the whole book organizing thing."

" Oh, well want any help? As long as we're not building stuff I can be useful."

Aaron laughs. " Okay, I'll meet you at her room after school then."

We make small talk the rest of the way to French. I tell him about eating breakfast with the gang today and he asks about Adam. I explain about him not talking to me and surprisingly enough he says basically the same thing that Kenji did. I guess they have some similarities, including denying the fact that they have similarities.

The day goes by slowly. Planning is as boring as ever and history is even more so. I find it difficult to stay focused on the teacher's words so eventually I just give up and let them go straight over my head. When History is finally over I walk over to the cafeteria and decide to spend my off-block here working on my short story. I get about five-hundred words down before my eyes start to close and I can't look at a screen any longer. I lean my head onto my arms, closing my eyes. I guess the lack of sleep the night before really affected me. The next thing I know, I am being woken up by the sound of the bell.

After collecting my things, I make my way down to Leila's room, only to find Aaron already there. He's standing outside the room looking in through the small window in the door. He sees me approaching and puts his finger up to his lips. I come stand next to him and peer into the window. There's a man in a suit and tie standing inside the room speaking to Leila who seems to be on the verge of tears. I look up at Aaron's face. It's firm and tense, his jaw set and his eyes hard and emotionless.

The man makes his way across the room towards the door. I tug on Aaron's arm so that he moves to the side as the door swings open. The man walks past us without a glance. We enter the room and Leila gives us a tentative smile, tears welling up in her eyes, before walking into her office and closing the door behind her.

" Who was that?" I ask after a few uncomfortable moments.

" My father." Aaron's voice holds no emotion. Hearing it is like looking at a blank canvas in a museum.

" Why was he here, is your mom okay?" The questions spill out of me almost against my will.

" I don't know." He answers.

There's silence for a few beats before I hear the soft quiet sobs coming from Leila's office. Aaron's face is still blank. I think that's why it hurts me so much. I wish he would show some sign of emotion, hatred or sadness or _something,_ but he doesn't. He just stands there.

" Hey," I finally say. " Let's get out of here."

He doesn't say anything or make any impression that he's going to move, so I take his hand in my own and pull him towards the door, then into the hallway and through the doors that lead out of the building. I keep pulling him along, walking past the front gates of the school. We keep going until we reach a stone staircase. I keep pulling Aaron along, step after step. The stones seem to go on forever, but eventually we reach the top. We're standing in a meadow filled with green grass and dandelion flowers. To the right, I see trees and a few boulders, but apart from that there's nothing but open space. The meadow is about the size of a school soccer field. I keep pulling Aaron along until we reach a small shady patch of grass. I place my jacket onto the damp grass and sit down. soon after Aaron does the same.

" So that was your dad huh?" It's the first time I've spoken since we left the room.

" Yeah."

" Do you know why he was there?"

Aaron rubs his face with his hands. " No."

A few beats of silence go by before he finally decides to speak again. " I've been seeing him in her room all month now. I tried asking my mom about it but she keeps dodging the questions."

" Do you think they're getting back together?"

Aaron actually laughs. " I don't think there are words strong enough to describe how much my parents despise each other at this point. Like I said, the only reason they're still married is because my father won't allow a divorce."

" If he hates her so much, why doesn't he want one?" I ask.

Aaron takes a deep breath before answering. " He doesn't want to ruin his reputation."

We're silent for a while. To my surprise it's Aaron who speaks first.

" What are your parents like?"

My first instinct is to lie. To lie and to make up some story about a happy up-bringing or how they died in a fire, but when I look up into Aaron's eyes, the last thing I feel like doing is painting a pretty picture of a childhood I never had.

" They hate me."

I try and find the words to describe what my life was like before I came here, but they all seem to stick to my tongue at once, making it dry and gross tasting.

" Why?" Aaron asks after a few moments.

" I- I had a brother…" The words get lost in my mouth again. I've never spoken about this before and the thought of saying it out loud makes me want to cry. " My mom had him pretty young. Like eighteen or something. The night I was born, he was driving to the hospital to see me but he got into an accident. H-he didn't make it. My parents blamed me I guess."

" That's crazy!" Aaron exclaims. " There's no way they can pin something like that on you!"

" Well, they did."

" How'd you end up here?"

" I uh… I got kicked out of school. This guy sort of tried to kiss me in the hallway so I punched him or something."

" Or something?" Aaron's grinning.

" I don't really remember…" I admit. " I blacked out. All I know is that he ended up in the hospital."

" Wait, but shouldn't _he_ have gotten kicked out?"

I smile weakly, regretting telling this story. " They didn't belive me so I got kicked out for attacking someone. The only reason I'm _here_ is because one of my teachers took pity on me and gave my an english scholarship to here."

" I'm sorry." He says.

" Don't be. Coming here has been one of the best experiences of my life."

" Really?" He asks in disbelief.

I nod my head.

" Interesting how one person's prison can be someone else's safe-haven."

I snort.

Suddenly, yesterday's conversation with Kenji comes back to me. I always thought my first move would have to do with words. I've always dealt with everything with my words. They're what separated me from others in my classes, they're what saved me all those nights when I was locked up in my room at home, but never have they ever accomplished what I really wanted. Maybe this time, words aren't the solution.

I take in a deep breath, already feeling lightheaded from the the thought of what I'm about to do.

_You have to make your _own_ first moves otherwise the rest of them will be unstable._

Here it goes then. I look up into Aaron's eyes and place my hand on his cheek as I bring my face up towards his until our lips meet. At first he pulls away, his eyes wide and I think I've read everything all wrong, but then, he kisses me back and I feel like the balloon of feelings in my stomach is finally able to explode.


	19. When your fiends double as interrogators

" Juliette," Aaron says after pulling away for the first time in what feels like forever, " Is this- are you sure this is what you want? Because if you need a friend right now, and we keep doing… this" he gestures to the space between us, " I won't be able to go back. I won't be able to be just friends anymore."

There's a sort of franticness in his eyes, and it warms my hear to see that guys aren't all a lost cause.

" I don't think _I_ cango back to being just friends with you if it means no more of this," I say giggling.

Aaron just grins in response and brings his lips back to mine, _they're rightful place, _I can't help but think.

It's getting dark out when Aaron and I are finally ready to leave our new found sanctuary. He takes my hand into his his and we walk like that all the way back to campus, just like we came out, except this time, I think Aaron is holding me together more than I am him.

He leaves me outside my dorm building, placing one last kiss on my lips.

"Text me when you talk to your mom." I say, the quiet sobs from behind her office door still echoing in my head.

" I will." And with that, I open the door to the building and walk away from the happiest moment of my life, only to walk into one of the most uncomfortable ones I've ever experienced.

For the next hour, I endure questioning from not only Sonya and Sarah but also from Kenji who snuck into our dorm when I hadn't returned his texts. Since it's after curfew, we have no choice but to let him spend the night.

I tell them about how we found the meadow, though I leave out the details about Aaron's father and Leila, and tell them about how we talked and well… kissed for a bit. They giggle and blush at the details, which makes me giggle and blush until I feel like one of those middle school girls you see in TV shows.

" Okay, now that this interrogation is over, I would like to sleep." I finally say.

Kenji turns around as I change into my PJ's. We don't have an extra blankets let alone a mattress so I insist that Kenji just share my bed instead of suffering on the hardwood floor. Because it's Kenji, very little insisting is required.

" Good night Jay," Kenji whispers, his head so close to mine I can almost feel the hairs from his head on my face.

" Good night Kenji."

I realize that having Kenji sleeping in my bed actually doesn't feel at all weird. I have less than little confidence that he won't try to spoon me in the middle of the night, but it's oddly reassuring to have him so close to me.

I fall asleep to thoughts of tangled limbs, soft lips and green eyes.

As my eyes open for the first time today, Kenji's are starring back at me. I thrash my arm out and hit him by reflex.

" Sorry!" I'm saying at the same time as Kenji starts yelling profanities left right and centre.

That's the sound Sonya and Sarah wake to, already laughing.

" What the hell were you doing?" I ask Kenji as he rubs the part of his face I accidentally hit. " I read online a few days ago that if you stare at someone for a long time right in the eyes, they'll wake up."

I laugh. " Well did it warn you to be carful of people's reflexes?"

Kenji grumbles something under his breath. I laugh again before rolling over top of him to get out of bed. I grin as he wails in protest.

Twenty minutes later, the four of us are walking across campus towards the dining hall. I check my phone for the first time as we walk and notice I received a text from Aaron.

_lunch? _

I smile to myself as I text back for him to come get me from Leila's room.

" God," Kenji says peering over my shoulder, " you two are already becoming all gross and couple like."

I shove Kenji away with a laugh, but inside I'm relieved I never changed Aaron's name from Warner in my contacts. Kenji and the twins keep teasing me until we get to the dining hall. Thankfully, they don't announce my recent relationship-status change to the rest of the group, but I'm sure at least someone apart from Sonya and Sarah notice the suggestive looks Kenji keeps shooting me from across the table every time my phone chimes. I try to kick him under the table but accidentally hit Adam, who's been looking stone faced and depressed the whole time, instead.

" Sorry!" I exclaim.

Kenji bursts into laughter from beside him and I have to bite my tongue to keep from joining in.

" It's fine." He keeps his head down, not looking at me. I can't help but hope this doesn't last for ever and that eventually Adam will let go of whatever he's clinging on to.

Sarah walks me to my English class. We chat about teachers and how we're doing in each subject. Predictably, Sarah is a straight A student, but unlike myself, she actually enjoys most of her subjects.

" So you're going to medical school after this right?" I ask.

" Ummm…" She goes silent for a few steps.

" Sarah, are you okay?" I notice her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides.

" Yeah… Uh-I mean maybe not… I don't know." Tears start to well up in her eyes so I grab her hand and take her into a little alcove in the hallway with a bench. We sit down and I carefully place my arm around her shoulders.

" What's wrong?" I ask.

Her voice is little more than a whisper as she says, " I don't want to go to med school."

" Okay, why is that a problem?" I ask tentatively.

" B-Because S-Sonya is so set on g-going that I don't think I can tell her."

" I'm sure she'd understand," I say, but Sarah shakes her head.

" We're twins Juliette. We've never spent more than a day apart. I could never let her go to into such a competitive atmosphere all by herself, but I don't think I have enough motivation to make it all the way through with her."

" Sarah," I say gently, pulling her tighter against my side. " You guys will have to split up a bit eventually. I mean, it's not like you'd marry the same guy or something."

Finally! I manage to get at least a hint of a smile out of her.

"You guys need to talk about it. I know it must be hard but…." I smile at what I'm about to say next say next, " someone once told me, you've got to make your own first moves, or the rest of them will be unstable."

" Who said that?" Sarah asks.

I smirk before answering, " Kenji"

We both burst into laughter. I help Sarah clean up before we both head to class. I'm a few minutes late, but Leila just smiles at me as I come in. Even though I smile back, the sounds of her quiet sobs are still stuck in my mind.

**Hey guys, I'm really sorry for not updating! Like I genuinely feel like crap when I leave you guys hanging like that but exams will be over soon I will hopefully have more time in the summer to write. I hope you guys aren't bored to tears yet. I did add in at least a little bit of Warnette into the chapter. Please leave suggestions etc. int the reviews! Live you guys, and good luck to all of you going through exams now! I have faith in you guys! **

**PS has anyone read A Court of Mist and Fury yet? Sooooooooo gooooooooood!**


	20. A Shoulder To Cry On

I feel someones presence behind me, looking over my shoulder. When I look up, I see a pair of green eyes.

" Hey," I say happily.

I glance at the clock and notice there's still ten minutes or so left of class.

" Are you skipping?"

A guilty smile appears on Aaron's face. " Not technically…"

I sigh. " We've been together for a day and I'm already a bad influence on you it seems."

He laughs. I see his mouth open, about to say something, when a stern voice interrupts him.

" What are you doing in my class?" Leila stands across the room, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Ummm…" I think this may be the first time in his life that Aaron doesn't have an immediate answer to something.

" That's what I thought. You may go sit outside the door if you're so eager to see Juliette that you can't wait a few minutes."

I smirk as he walks out the door, only to watch me through the window. Leila catches me as I try and keep in my laughter, but she only smiles and shakes her head at me.

I see a girl from across the room watching Aaron as me continues starring at me through the window. I take out my phone and shoot him a quick text.

_Stop it! Someone's looking at you funny! _

I see him take out his phone and read the text. A small smile spreads itself onto his face as he types in an answer. My phone buzzes in my hand.

_Ever the jealous girlfriend. _

This time I don't quite manage to keep in my laugh so a sort of snort comes out of my nose. The girl now looks to me, a sly smirk on her lips. I'm about to text back when realization hits me. _Girlfriend. _He'd written girlfriend. Does that make us official? Is this how these sort of things work?

_Ever the annoying prick._

This time, it's Aaron who snorts. I don't hear it, but I see it. It makes me happy to know that his face isn't unfairly beautiful with _every _expression. Just ninety percent of them…

I'm already standing up as the bell rings, about to rush for the door when Leila calls out to me. I walk over to where she stands in the door way of her office.

" Is something wrong?" I ask cautiously.

" Not yet," she says eyes alight. " But please do make sure my son still goes to classes today."

I let out an awkward laugh as heat rises to my cheeks.

" Of course. I'll even walk him there myself after lunch." She laughs before sending me on my way.

" Finally." Aaron says as I come out of the classroom.

I giggle as his arms wrap around me.

" I didn't realize how public our relationship would be," I say tilting my head up so that my chin rests on his chest.

" If I get to date you, there's no way I'm doing it secretly."

I hide my face in his baggy jumper so that he doesn't see me blush.

" Come on," He says grabbing my hand, " let's go get lunch."

We walk hand in hand towards the sandwich place he showed my a few weeks ago. As we're walking I notice Kenji standing next to a tall guy wearing a brown leather jacket. I'm surprised to see I have never noticed him before.

" Do you know who that is?" I ask Aaron.

" No, but I think I've seen him around in the drama wing." He says. " Why?"

" Nothing. Kenji just looks kind of… Awkward beside him."

" I'm sure he's fine"

I nod, but I'm still not completely convinced. Kenji always has this easy going aura around him, it's weird to see him looking even a little bit tense.

" So," I say changing the subject. " did you get a chance to talk to your mom?"

" No, not really. She was asleep by the time I got home yesterday and she'd already left by the time I finished my shower this morning." His eyebrows knit together. " I feel like she's avoiding me or something."

" Well, realistically, what could she be hiding?" I ask.

" I don't know. Something about my father possibly."

" I'm sure she'll tell you eventually."

" I hope so." Is all he says.

We arrive at the sandwich stop, and take our orders to go. I get a grilled cheese and Aaron get's a BLT.

" That's not enough," Aaron says as the lady makes our sandwiches.

" It's fine, I ate a big breakfast today."

" Juliette, you need to properly nourish yourself."

" I'm nourishing myself just fine. Don't fuss over nothing." I poke him in his abs. " Besides, I'll just steal some of yours if I'm still hungry."

He laughs. " You'll do no such thing."

When our sandwiches are ready we take the delicious smelling bag and walk back to the campus. We find a bench outside and sit down to eat.

" Can you come over after school today?" Aaron asks as I start on my second sandwich half. " My mom told me to invite you before she left today. That was actually the only thing she said to me this morning apart from what you heard."

I snort. " Sure, but I have homework for tomorrow."

" That's fine, so do I."

I stick to my word and drop Aaron off at his class. " Stay," I say jokingly.

" Nobody told me how degrading relationships become in such a short time span." He answers.

I shake my head at him, before standing up on my tippy toes and giving him a quick kiss before leaving. As I'm walking down the maze of hallways towards Leila's class, I start to hear yelling coming from somewhere in front of me. Just as I turn a corner I see Adam raging out of a room, slamming the door open. " JUST LEAVE US ALONE!" He yells. He storms off down the hallway, either not noticing the looks he's getting, or ignoring them all together.

Before I even fully comprehend my own actions, I'm running after him. " Adam!" I yell. " Adam, wait!" But he doesn't. He keeps walking, walking until he get's to the weight room. He slams open the metal door, and walks directly for the punching bag. The bell rings, but I ignore it. I watch as Adam punches and kicks the bag. I watch as his knuckles turn red, then tare. I watch as tears roll down his cheeks. I'm watching as he finally drops to the ground and I'm watching his shoulders as they start to shake uncontrollably.

" Adam?" It's the first thing I say in half an hour. He doesn't look up. I walk towards him and kneel in front of him. My arms wrap around his body and he cries into my shoulder. I stroke my hands down his back in a soothing way, whispering things like " It's okay" and " You're fine." Until the shaking subsides and he looks at me for the first time.

" What's wrong?" I ask.


	21. Afternoon Disappearance

Have you ever stumbled across something so valuable that it has the power to change your entire world? While I desperately hope yours will be a stone thats been impaled by a sword, and holds the power to make you a king, I was not so lucky. My _something, _was actually a someone who'd I found in a weight room, his body cloaked in sobs.

" What's wrong?"

For the next hour, my mind is filled with information I can't even dream of processing. Adam had been yelling at the head of the school because- get this, he's his father. Not only that but he's been providing Adam and- wait for it- his ten year old brother their entire lives. The more information that spews out of Adam, the more questions come into my mind about Aaron.

_How is this possible? Should I tell Aaron? Does Leila know? Does Aaron already know? _

" And now I keep seeing him in Leila's room, like he hasn't done enough damage already! He wants to add more people into his life? Who the hell does that?"

I just sit there and nod as Adam rages on, feeling guilty for the answers laying just on the tip of my tongue.

" So, where were you last class?"

Aaron and I are walking to his apartment. He holds my hand as I swing our arms back and forth.

" My mom texted me when you didn't show up, assuming I was with you."

" Oh"

_How am I supposed to explain this? _

" Ummm… something came up."

Aaron stops walking, bringing us both to an abrupt stop.

" What kind of something?" he asks.

" A kind I don't feel like talking about…yet."

His body tenses up, but he doesn't say anything. " I swear I'll tell you soon, just not… now."

I hate the idea of lying to him, so, I decide not to. This may make him more angry than a lie would have, but I don't want it to backfire on us later on.

" Alright, but you will tell me?" he's taken both my hands now and his eyes are locked on my own.

" I promise."

He places a small kiss on my lips before letting go of one of my hands and continuing to walk.

" So, anything special for dinner?" I ask changing the subject.

" Not that I know of. Probably just lasagna or something."

" You can't put just in front of lasagna. Lasagna is bigger than just."

Aaron laughs. " Okay, fine. Probably _spectacular _lasagna."

" Well then. Now if it's not _spectacular _lasagna, I'm going to disappointed."

In the next few hours, we arrive at Aaron's apartment and we do homework. Or at least we attempt to. As the hours tick by, pencils are dropped and somehow I find my fingers in Aaron's hair instead of on my keyboard.

It's five by the time we hear the door unlocking and pull apart for the first time in what feels like forever. I just manage to get my science textbook in front of me when Leila comes in.

" Working hard?" She doesn't say anything more, but by the smug expression on her face, I can tell she knows we haven't.

"Of course mother, what else would we have been doing in an empty room?"

Leila just laughs before exiting the room, leaving the door open behind her. " dinner in half an hour!" She calls.

" You're going to hell." I say to Aaron.

He laughs. "As long as you're there with me, I don't care."

You'd be surprised how fast half an hour can go.

" So Juliette," Leila says as we're eating dinner. " Where were you during the second half of the day?"

I take my time chewing and swallowing my bite of-yes lasagna, before answering. " I um- something came up."

I look over at Aaron only to find an annoyed expression on his face.

" It was nothing, really." I say.

Leila doesn't look like she believes me, but she doesn't ask for any more details. For the rest of dinner, it feels as though everyone is walking on a very thin ice, trying not to fall into a sea of chaos. Aaron obviously wants to talk about his father, Leila obviously doesn't, and I am doing my best to avoid the topic of my afternoon disappearance. Talk about awkward.

" Juliette, you'll be spending the night, right?" Leila asks as we're putting the dishes into the sink.

" Ummm.. I wasn't planning on it-"

" Don't be silly, it's pouring outside and it's getting dark soon."

" Okay then. I guess I am." I say.

Aaron hands me the same pair of sweat pants I borrowed last time, and I go into his bathroom to change.

" Your toothbrush is in the cup." He yells through the door.

I look at the counter and sure enough, the pink toothbrush from last week is there. I brush my teeth before remembering that I haven't taken a shower since yesterday.

" Aaron?" I say through a crack in the door. " Do you mind if I use your shower?"

" Not at all. Just wait a sec."

He runs out the door, only to be back with two purple bottles in his arms. " Shampoo, and that other thing." he says as he hands them to me.

" Thanks," I say smiling. "And it's called conditioner."

I shower and change into the sweat pants Aaron gave me earlier along with the tank top I was wearing underneath my blouse.

" Done?" Aaron asks as I step out of the bathroom.

" Yeah. Just gonna put a hoodie on."

I take my red school hoodie out of my bag and shrug it on. For the next few hours, Aaron and I don't talk at all. I finish my science and french homework, before Leila comes in to say good night.

" You almost done?" I ask Aaron a few minutes later.

" Yeah, Just two more questions." he says.

" what are you working on?"

" Just a worksheet about a study some guy did last year."

I think back and try to remember what Aaron's specialty subject is, but I quickly realize that he's never told me.

" Hey, what's your specialty class anyways?" I ask after a few moments of thought.

" oh, Umm.. psychology. Mainly social sciences. I've never told you?"

" Weird right?" I say.

" Yeah. You'd think it'd be the first thing we'd discuss at this school." He scribbles down a few sentences on his worksheet. " Okay done. Ready for bed?"

I nod before realizing he didn't bring in the mattress. He notices the direction of my gaze, the empty piece of floor where the mattress was last time.

" I can go get it if you want," He starts, but I interrupt him.

" No it's fine. It's just, won't your mom be mad if she comes in, in the morning?" I ask

" oh," he says. " No, she trusts us. If she didn't, she would have reminded me to get the mattress before she went to bed."

" oh." I say.

Aaron turns on the lamp beside the bed before turning off the light. I take off my hoodie and climb into the bed. Aaron soon follows me. We lay there, on our backs for what seems like eternity, but after a few minutes, I start to feel less stiff and shift on to my side, into Aaron's chest. His arms wrap around me and I fall asleep to the soft smell of citrus soap.

" Good night Juliette."

But I'm too far gone to answer.


	22. Lies

"Leila?"

I stand in the doorway of Leila's office, finally ready to breach the subject of Adam. She looks up from her papers and smiles at me.

" oh, Juliette, I'm sorry I was so busy marking these that I didn't even hear you coming in. What's up dear?"

" I- can I talk to you?"

" Of course, what's on your mind?"

I take in a deep breath, and let the words tumble out.

" I found Adam really upset the other day and he told me that the head was his father, but Aaron told me that he was _his _father, but you can't be both of their mothers because that makes _no_ sense but neither of them would lie, but now I'm lying to both of them, but I can't be the one to tell them because that's not my place, especially considering I don't really know what's going on in the first place, and- and- Leila what's going on!"

Somewhere in that mess, tears have started to run down my face, and my voice grew more frantic and high pitched. I'm trying to wipe them away when I hear a small intake of breath coming from behind me.

" What?"

I turn only to find a confused looking pair or green eyes.

"Okay. Just let me explain." Leila says, trying to sound calm, "Please." But Aaron is already walking away. I chase after him, grabbing his hand.

" Aaron, stop!" He does. I take both his hands and look him in the eyes.

" You have every right to be upset with me and with your mother, but you will never get any answers if you run away."

He closes his eyes and leans his head back, taking his hand out from mine and placing them on his head. He stays like that for several seconds before finally looking at me again.

" Okay. But I need some time first." He finally says.

I tell Leila that we'll meet her at the apartment in two hours before walking back over to where Aaron is still standing. Frozen.

" You don't have to talk to me if you're angry, but I'm not letting you out on your own in this condition." I say.

" Good." Is his only answer.

For the next hour, we walk aimlessly around campus. Aaron doesn't speak to me. After we start on our second loop of the school, he finds a bench and we sit down.

" Are you angry?" I finally ask.

He looks at me for the first time. " With you? No. Not really."

I loose a breath I'd been holding in since we'd left Leila's room. " But you are angry with your mom." It's not a question.

" Why couldn't she have just told me?"

I think about my answer for a few moments. " Maybe she didn't want you to hate your father any more than you already did."

He takes one of my hands into his own, absent-mindedly playing with my fingers, tracing the lines of my palm.

" Is that where you were yesterday?" He finally asks.

" Yes." It's almost a whisper. " I saw Adam freaking out at your dad in the halls, so I followed him. It looked like he was on the verge of hurting himself he was so angry. I know what it's like to cry alone Aaron… I couldn't do that to someone."

" Why was he so angry?"

" I don't really know, He wasn't making much sense. All I know is that he kept seeing your dad in Leila's room and for whatever reason he just lost it."

" Why would Kent be angry about him in _my_ mom's room?"

" Hopefully she'll explain." I looked down at my phone. " Speaking of, we should get going. Unless…"

I looked at him for any sign of hesitation.

" Let's go." He get's up, pulling me with him.

We make small talk as we walk to the apartment. He tells me about his day and I push him for details, trying to take his mind off of what lies before us.

As we enter the apartment, the smell of tomato soup fills the air. Aaron walks straight into the kitchen to where Leila stands stirring something in a big pot.

" I don't think alphabet soup can fix this one." He says cooly. My heart breaks a bit when I see Leila smile through the harsh words.

" It could still help." Is all she says.

We put our stuff into Aaron's room and then walk back out into the kitchen where Leila's placed the pot on the set table. When we're all seated, Aaron and I on one side of the table, Leila across from us on the other, the word interrogation floods my mind.

Aaron scoops some soup into everyone's bowls. " So," He begins. "Care to explain mom?"

Leila's takes in a deep breath and suddenly seventeen years of lies are coming up to the surface.


	23. Explanations and Confusion

"Okay, so I guess it all started nineteen years ago, when I was in Paris for a few weeks. I was exploring the world, trying to find myself. It was my second week when I stumbled into your father. Maybe it was because we were in France, but we had a romantic time. I saw him every day for a week. When he told be he was flying back home the next night, things got… intimate. The next day we said good bye at the airport, and I thought that was it. I thought that was the end of my wild adventure.

A few weeks later, I found out I was pregnant, with you. I was at the abortion clinic the next day when I saw a ring on the ground. It was silver with a green stone embedded into it. When I looked at it, all I could think of were my mother's green eyes, the ones that mirrored my own. I thought about how my own mother was taken from me too early, about how I never got to meet her, about how she could have done what I was about to do and would most likely be alive but instead she chose my birth over her life. That green ring, those green eyes, the ones that had stared at me from pictures. I couldn't do it. I walked out of that abortion clinic, taking the ring with me.

And so, for the next nine months, I carried you in my stomach. My father disapproved of my decision. He said twenty was too young to have a child and that you would need a father. None the less, I had you anyways, and then proceeded to raise you for the next two years. We had a nice, yet simple life. I worked at a cafe and the owner was nice enough to let me bring you to work. You were such a good boy, always sitting quietly on the blanket I'd laid out for you, never crying or making a mess. Unfortunately, the owner had a stroke and since he didn't have any family willing to take over the business, he had to shut the place down.

I was out of options. I couldn't find a job that could support the two of us while also paying for a daycare now that I would't be able to take you to work with me anymore. I had no choice but to call your father. Luckily, his phone number hadn't changed, so I contacted him and told him the news, told him about you. Turned out, he had some news of his own. Your father had been in Paris savouring his last few days of freedom before he was to be married. Now He was already living with his wife and a newborn son.

After much explaining was done, you and I eventually moved into a mansion with your father, his wife, and your half brother… Adam. We lived there for two years. You and Adam were the only ones in the house who got along. When Adam's mother became pregnant with her second child, your father bought us this apartment. We moved in shortly, and we all agreed that it'd be best if neither you nor Adam knew about that part of your life.

Adam's mother died during childbirth. The baby lived, thankfully, but after Anderson's wife died, he married me, for financial purposes. As you already know, he lives separately, we live here, and Adam and his brother live in an apartment by themselves. I wanted to take them in when their mother died, but your father wouldn't let me, insisting that we keep our lived separate.

Well, that's it I guess. That's the whole story."

The words that leave Aaron's mouth for the first time since Leila started speaking are not the ones I'm expecting.

" I have... _two _brothers?"


	24. Secrets unending

I wake up wrapped in Aaron's arms, his head resting on top of mine. I turn my head to look at him only to find his eyes already open. He kisses my forehead. " Good morning love" He says.

" Good morning."

As I look at him, our conversation from last night comes crashing back.

_" __I have two brothers Juliette. That house, that little boy… it was all real." _

_" __Are you mad? At your mom I mean?" _

_" __I don't know… I mean, she was hurt enough by not being able to take them in. I guess I can't blame her for trying to protect me from the same hurt. Maybe it was better that it remained more of a dream to me, than the harsh reality that it actually was." _

_" __What are you going to do?" _

_" …" _

_"__Aaron?"_

_" __I want to… I want to meet them. Like, for real. I want to meet them." _

_"…"_

_"__Juliette?" _

_" __His name is James. Your little brother I mean, I don't remember much else about what Adam told me, but his name is James." _

_" __Two brothers… I never thought… I wasn't expecting any good news today." _

I reach over to the nightstand and take my phone. I've received a text from Kenji.

_I need to talk to you. _

I text back saying I'll meet him at Yumi's for lunch. Aaron looks at the text over my shoulder.

" Really? I've been replaced by Kenji that easily?"

I look at him dramatically. " You weren't supposed to find out this way."

Aaron laughs and kisses my nose. " I'm going to go shower." And with that, he gets out of bed.

The morning is weirdly calm considering what went down last night. Leila makes french toast for breakfast and we all eat together at the table.

" So where are you two spending the day?" Leila asks.

It's Friday, so we don't technically have any classes.

" We're probably gonna head to the library for the day. Not much homework but tests are starting up." Aaron answers.

" Juliette, don't forget your story layout is due on Monday."

" Yeah, I'm almost finished. Just gotta figure out the ending." and the beginning and the middle is what I don't add.

" I see." Leila says, clearly not buying it.

Aarons chuckles, very much aware of how behind I am. " You better make sure you two stay on track today." She says pointedly at her son and then me.

" Don't worry about it mom." His eyes gleam in a way that suggests the opposite.

Leila drops us off at school and we head up to the library. For the next three hours, Aaron seems to get his whole life together from beginning to end, as I stare at an empty page. It's like as soon as I chose 'love' as my theme, I can't think of a single storyline. Finally, a few minutes before the bell for lunch is supposed to ring, Aaron looks over at my paper only to find my name and date. Not even a title.

" You can switch the theme around you know." He says.

" what do you mean?"

" Like, you don't necessarily need to write about love, it could be the absence of it."

I ponder that for a bit. " As much experience as I have in that department, I don't think I could write about it."

He takes my hand into his own. " Just try it. Sometimes writing things down is easier than actually saying them."

This strikes a cord in me. I haven't written in it since I got here, but I've actually kept a journal since the third grade. I've never tried to re-read it, but if theres anything that represents the absence of love, it would be my life before Anderson prep.

" What are you thinking?" Aaron asks.

" Just, thinking." He gives me a puzzled look but doesn't pry.

The bell rings so I kiss Aaron quickly on the cheek before taking my bag and heading to yumi's. Kenji is already waiting for me, yogurt in hands.

" Hey" I say to him. " What up?"

" Where have you been?" He asks.

" Some, uh, stuff happened yesterday." I start to see Kenji's eyes light up. " Sorry Kenji, not my drama."

He frowns at me. " You're no fun Jay." I laugh.

" Anyways, you're the one who said you want to talk, so talk."

Kenji starts mixing around his frozen yogurt, his knees bouncing up an down. " Okay, so ummm… Look, I haven't done this yet, so like I'm not sure how it goes and shit, so like bare with me here."

" what are you talking about? Just tell me." I say.

" Okay, so umm here it goes I guess…so Juliette, I'm ah , I'm… sexual."

I look at him confused. " No, not what I meant to say, fuck! No! I'm… bilingual!"

" Okay…" I start to say, but he cuts me off. " God damnit! Oh my god, okay." He takes in a deep breath. " Juliette, I think- no I know, I'm… Bisexual."

" Kenji," I say, getting up from my seat. " Oh my god, why were you so nervous? Come here." I walk over to him and give him a hug.

" I don't care who you date," I tell him, " As long as you tell me all the details."

He laughs, but there's a tear that rolls down his face. Then something clicks. " Wait, then, are you dating that guy in the leather jacket? I saw you walking with him like a week ago or something and your were all flustered and stuff."

He blushes. " Uh, not really, he asked me out last week but we haven't gone anywhere yet…"

"Kenji!" I hit his arm. " have you even called him?" I ask.

" No…"

" then do it! He'll never know you're interested if you act like you're not interested."

Kenji laughs. " Since when do I get advice from you?", I poke him.

" Since I have a boyfriend and you don't."

We laugh and make fun for the next twenty minutes until the bell rings and we have to go to class.

" wait, isn't Connor in your acting class?" I ask.

Kenji nods reluctantly. " Then ask him out today. You guys can go for coffee."

" What if he doesn't like coffee?" I look at him like he's crazy. "If he doesn't like coffee, then he's not the guy for you Kenji."

He laughs nervously. " Im kidding." I clarify. " I'll text you tonight, and you better have news for me." I say before giving him another hug and walking back to the library.


	25. Some uh, news

I raise my fist, ready to knock on Adam's dorm room door, but it's as if there's this invisible force holding my arm back. After what feels like hours I break through the the steel wall my mind has created for me and knock. I hear shuffling before the door swings open.

Adam's eyes go wide with surprise when he sees me.

" Hey," I say awkwardly.

" Hi."

The last time I talked to him was in the weight room, and I haven't seen him since, so this conversation is long overdue I suppose.

"I uh, have some… news for you." I say.

His expression is confused. " What do you mean 'news'?"

" I know this sounds like the last thing you'd want to do, but you need to meet with Warner Saturday."

" And why would I do that?" He asks, already positioning himself in a way that suggests he's about to close his door, shutting me out completely. I start to panic. Adam needs to come to this meeting- he needs to hear this, so I say the one thing I know will leave him no choice.

"It'll affect James."

His expression shifts from annoyance to shock in an instant. "what do you mean?"

"It's not my place to explain. Just come to the address I'm about to text you at noon tomorrow, and bring James."

" I'll think about it, but I'm not bringing James anywhere I haven't been before."

I'm about to argue, but I quickly stop myself. This is probably the best deal I'm going to get.

" Okay fine, but be there Adam. This is … really important."

The door closes in my face.

I stare at my coffee cup, hands wrapped around it protectively.

"You okay there love?" Aaron asks me from across the table.

We're sitting at a cafe trying to decide on a game plan for Saturday.

"What if we get Kenji to come?" I say hesitantly. Before Aaron can protest I shoot into argument mode. " He knows Adam better than either one of us, and he can help calm him down! I don't know if you've noticed but Adam tends to allow his temper to get the better of him and no offence and all but I'm not entirely certain you'll be able to keep your cool if things get really bad, but Kenji could be like, a mediator or something if things get blown up out of proportion."

Aaron stares at me for a while. I can almost see the gears shifting in his mind, contemplating whether or not he's desperate enough to share all of this new found information with yet another person.

"Okay."

I can't stop my eyes fro widening. "Really?"

His eyes do that thing where they smile without the help of the rest of his face. "I may not be as fond of Kenji as you are, but I suppose him being there does make sense."

I smile as he takes my hand from across the small round table.

The rest of the day goes smoothly. We run some errands for Leila and do some homework. I spend the night at the apartment, since the meeting with Adam is tomorrow. We lay in each others arms, slowly falling into an anxious sleep.

**Hey y'all, I am so so so so so so so sorry for disappearing like that! It's just been a really stressful time for me this year, so much more so than I'd expected! But, I really hope you enjoy these two chapters, I was in such a writing slump, I just couldn't envision this meeting for some reason, and then yesterday I received another review and I just decided to try again and the words started to fly from my fingers and I'm so excited to continue sharing this story with all of you. I love you guys so so so much, and if you're still here, I'm unbelievably grateful for it. You guys deserve better than me, and I swear I'll try to continue this story in a more punctual manner in the future, but just bare with me as I struggle through my life for now. As you can see, your reviews truly do make a difference not just in when new chapters are posted, but just in my life. they remind me why I love writing, and they remind me that maybe there are people out there waiting for my words. Thanks so much guys and I promise I will try harder! LOVE YOU SO MCUH! **

**Also, WHO ELSE IS DYING OF EXCITEMENT BECAUSE OF THE NEW SHATTER ME BOOKS WE'RE GETTING?1?! I AM SO BEYOND EXCITED!**


	26. Run boy run

"So, what's the plan here exactly?" Kenji asks, scarfing down his third cookie.

"I don't really know," I answer truthfully, "I think we'll just kinda tell him and hope for the best…?"

Kenji snorts, but doesn't argue.

"Mom," Aaron says, "I think you should explain. Something tells me Adam may not be too… inclined to have his life retold by _me_."

Leila frowns from her spot on the couch. "I don't think I'm a much better choice, but I'd rather he be mad at me than any of you. From what I understand, Adam isn't very close to anyone in particular, a trait it seems you've both received from you father," She looks pointedly at Aaron.

"Well, that's not _entirely _true," Aaron says looking at me.

"Another thing you seem to share," Kenji says, "or at least tried to," he grins at the joke even as Aaron stares daggers at him from where he's standing in the doorway of the small living room. Kenji just takes another cookie from the coffee table in front of us, eyes glistening with delight.

Another reason I wanted Kenji here. There isn't even any real tension yet, but he's already managing to lift it. I'm watching the scene in front of me play out, Kenji's humour against Aaron's calm demeanour, as the doorbell rings. Leila stands from her seat, walking towards the door, muttering "here we go," under her breath.

I decide to move closer to Kenji, worried that my physical proximity to Aaron might be too much for Adam to handle, as he hears about a life he very well could have had.

My hands are already fidgeting as Adam walks into the room, Leila in toe.

"Please, have a seat, take a cookie." She says, gesturing to the already half eaten plate of cookies on the coffee table.

Adam nods, but doesn't make any move to grab one. He moves into the chair across the room from where Aaron is still standing, neither of them even making eye contact.

"Okay, so what is it?" Adam asks, after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

"Well," Leila begins, her own hands clenching and unclenching in her lap, the only sign that she's as nervous as the rest of us. "It seems it's time for some… information to be released… to both of you." Her eyes look from Adam to Aaron. Adam's face contorts into one of confusion as his gaze follows Leila's and finally, the two brothers acknowledge each others existence.

" What do you mean?" Adam questions.

"Well, I guess I should start from the beginning. Your beginning. Adam, do you know how your parents met?" He shakes his head.

" Your parents met in high school. They dated for two years, and a few months after graduation, your mother was pregnant with you. Your father proposed and they were due to be married in a few weeks. Two weeks before the wedding, your father decided to take a trip to Paris, savouring his last moments of freedom, of a life free of parental responsibilities and without the pressure of being a husband." Leila takes in a deep breath, Adam seemingly devouring each word as if it were the only source of water in a desert.

"That's when he met me. We spent a week together, just one week, but during that time, one thing lead to another…" Leila trailed off. "When your father left me a week later, off to start a family with your mother and you, he had no idea that I- that I was pregnant."

Adam's breath catches as the realization slowly starts to form. His head is already turning towards Aaron when Leila says. "I couldn't bare to give him up, my baby."

Silver lines Leila's green eyes, as she finishes, "Adam, I'm sorry you didn't know, that We- that _I _never had the courage to tell you. He didn't want me to, even when you mother-"

But Adam's not listening anymore. He's staring at his brother across the room, Aaron starring right back. Then I see it. I see the same memory clicking in his mind that I heard from Aaron only days before.

"It was you," He says almost incoherently. " I- I thought you were just an imaginary friend, someone I'd made up entirely…"

And then, Adam gets up, and he runs. Out of the room, through the doors of the apartment, down the stairs, and down the side walk. He's still running, long after I see his figure disappear through the window.

**Love y'all! Please please please share your thoughts emotions and everything in between!**


	27. The calm before the storm

"So that went well." Aaron says blankly.

"I'll go after him." Kenji says. "try and talk some sense into him." He grabs another cookie before making his way out the door. "See you later J!" He calls.

"So what now?" I ask.

"Nothing." Leila says, "We give him time and we wait."

The next few hours are surprisingly calm. Leila leaves the apartment, saying she has some errands to run, so Aaron and I splay out on the floor in the living room and do some homework. It's been a full hour before Aaron finally says, "Should I have gone instead of Kenji?"

I look at him be fore asking, "Do _you_ think it should have been you?"

He's quiet for a moment. "I don't know. I feel like I'm that last person he'd want to talk to right now, but I'm also the only person who understands what he's probably feeling."

"If the positions were switched," I say, "would you have wanted to talk to _him_, or anybody?"

"I'd talk to you. I _did _talk to you."

The smile on my face is bitter sweet, "I don't think Adam has a me. The closest he has is Kenji, and even that relationship is shaky."

After another hour or so of homework, we decide to head out for dinner.

"Pizza or sushi?" Aaron asks me as we're walking to Anderson Square.

"How questionable is the sushi here?" I ask.

"I've only heard of someone getting food poisoning once, so that's promising."

We decide not risk the states of hour stomachs, experiencing multiculturalism be damned, and instead go for the pizza.

"Where did you mom say she was going again?" I ask.

We're sitting at one of the booths in a pizza parlour, a large onion and mushroom pizza between us.

"I don't know, she's been very vague about her disappearances recently. She leaves the apartment earlier than usual and she's been finding more and more 'errands to run', whatever that means."

"I'm sure it's fine. Maybe she's taking dance classes or something."

Aaron raises his eyebrows at me. "_Dance classes._"

"Hey! Who knows! Maybe your mom hit forty this year and was like, I need to feel passionate again. Raising this moody overly articulate teenager is draining all of energy."

" And dance would be the way to go?" He asks, picking up another piece of pizza.

"Well I don't know, maybe pottery then. Or a book club."

"Ah," he says matter of factly. "That's where you're wrong. My mother hates book clubs. She says they're full of people more in love with the idea of having intellectual conversations that true book lovers. Often times, those people are the people least capable of having intellectual conversations, which makes for some troubled discussions."

"Alright," I say picking up a piece of pizza myself, "Not book club then. How about water aerobics?"

Aaron snorts. "Juliette have you ever seen my mother engage in any sort of physical activity? Se's about as useless as you in the regard, maybe even more so."

I make a mock hurt face. " Ummm, I don't appreciate being insulted that way Aaron. That was uncalled for."

"Okay, you tried to punch my hands from a foot away the other day and missed. I am not taking that insult back." He says.

"This is it," I say dramatically. "I never thought it would end this way. Off I go, crying into Kenji's arms."

"I always knew it'd be Kenji who stole you from me." Aaron says. "Should have cut him out of the picture while I still had the chance."

I burst out laughing, and can't stop prolonging the story of my new romantic relationship with Kenji for a solid five minutes. We finish our pizza then take a walk around Anderson Square. It's almost nine, so the shops are all closed and the the streets are more or less empty.

"Can you ask Adam something for me?" Aaron asks, our hands clasped together as we walk.

"Sure, though I'm not sure he'll answer me."

"I want to meet James. I think it may be too late for Adam and I, but James… He hasn't had the chance to… taint him yet."

I know that the him he's referring to isn't Adam, but the source of their shared DNA.

"I'll ask," I say.

Aaron walks me back to my dorm room and kisses me before letting go of my hand and walking away.

As I enter my room, I see that Sonya and Sarah are already asleep, so I change into my PJ's in the dark and climb into bed. I send Kenji a text.

_Did you find Adam?_

The reply comes quickly.

_Yah. I ran with him for a while. Haven't been able to get much out of him though. _

After a few minutes of pondering, I finally type,

_Do you think he would be at all open to Warner meeting James? _

I wait minutes before Kenji responds.

_I have no idea. My guess is probably not anytime soon. _

I decide to try and talk to Adam myself tomorrow, and send Aaron a good night text before putting away my phone and falling asleep.


End file.
